Some of the comments in this thread are the exact opposite thing I would expect from this community and it is shameful. It's unfortunate that the top comment is one of these which could steer some people away from reading further.
As many others in this thread have pointed out, Cerebro is a pretty cool app that borrows from some core OS functionality and improves on it. Is its design 100% perfect? Maybe not. However, instead of commenting the application isn't exactly the way YOU would have done it and complaining try offering some constructive criticism.
If the app is memory hogging, not following best coding practices, or you have a cool idea of how something could be done instead share that feedback and offer better ways to do things. Not only does this benefit the developers working on this app but it helps others who may be working on becoming better developers themselves.
I myself am a naive developer. However I enjoy developing in my free time to keep myself thinking and I enjoy learning new things. I frequently visit this community to see what others are working on and looking at all the cool applications that people develop is a great way to pass time. If I had worked on something really hard, posted it, and then received some of these comments I would be extremely discouraged.
That said, if a Cerebro developer is reading, this looks like a really cool improvement on Spotlight (I use OSX). Keep up the good work and don't let the negative comments in here discourage you or your team!
I truly wish that most communities of practice were more like what you describe. But, it's also naive to expect that experts won't criticize, sometimes even harshly.
For instance, I am currently learning data science from the ground up (i.e. reading the fundamental mathematical literature) and doing it outside of a university program. It is disheartening to post a question, to say Cross Validated, and have a few critical commenters almost laugh the motivation out of me. So, I can emphasize.
However, on the other hand, as a software practitioner, I am often on the other side of the fence. In this field in particular it seems like there are often amateurs who decide to jump in with an arrogant disrespect for the existing community knowledge and practices. I think it's because software is very cool now (like statistics, etc.). And, in software it's easy to find some code and libraries and 'wire them together' in crude ways.
Note, I am not implying that this is the case here! I haven't even looked at the software nor read most of the comments. But, since I often see this happening, I know that such comments are expected. I'm only commenting on your perspective.
I am not against autodidacts. In fact, I am one myself. And, I encourage it. But, all autodidacts should expect and embrace criticism from the community. It sucks to take it, because often commenters are often overly harsh and blunt. But, in defense of them, every community will be like this, to some degree. And, it's expected. Many of these practitioners have spent their life doing it, and they have some right to be critical, don't they?
> If the app is memory hogging, not following best coding practices, or you have a cool idea of how something could be done instead share that feedback and offer better ways to do things.
In spirit i agree with you.
In practice the problem here is, to use a really crude analogy:
The Cerebro developers rented an empty mall for super cheap, then opened a single restaurant in it. Some people won't mind driving all the way there and walking through the entire thing to get to the restaurant, other people will.
The advice then in that situation is to one of these:
1. Demolish the parts of the mall that aren't used, piece by piece, while trying to not knock over the restaurant situated on the third floor, so other people can build their houses on the now free space, closer to the restaurant.
2. Abandon it and build a new restaurant in the middle of the city.
Everyone recognizes that both of these are very expensive solutions and unlikely to ever be implemented, so you end up with two kind of people.
1. Those who shrug and walk away saying nothing.
2. Those who go, with various amounts of emphasis: "Aw, i wish you hadn't done that."
There is no happy middle ground possible here, sadly.
While it's cool if the dev does it as a side project I think that the main reason people are negative is because it doesn't bring anything new as many similar tools exist:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13737052
And the only difference it has is being much heavier because it's electron.
I actually find comments like yours far more obnoxious than level-headed criticism. This communities purpose is not to be a marketing team for whoever wants to post here. Criticism is much more edifying than blind support.
I've tried a couple, but I always end up back to Alt+F2 in XFCE, since most of these launchers always start so slowly in comparison, and I never use any other features (more than once) than starting Firefox/Emacs/Terminal …
Related: For fast filesystem search on Windows (NTFS) I cannot recommend enough Everything [0]. Instant search through all drives. This app really shines. Under 1 Mb install size, blazing fast interface (can be bound to global hotkey), command line interface, optional HTTP interface, small memory footprint (depends on the size of indices). Really, if you haven't seen it, check it out.
It basically connects to the NTFS database, fo that's why it is instant. Still don't understand why OS does not do this.
The question is, is it fast? It annoys me if I hit the shortcut keys and the window takes a long time to pop up, I use Find and Run Robot(1) on Windows and it shows up instantly. It even has plugins, but you have to gasp write them in C/C++!
I wonder why people dont use pyqt? my startup's first product was a Square-pos like tool built in pyqt and cross compiled to exe, dmg and linux executable.
We made it run on Windows XP machine with 256 mb ram total. Oh and we embedded cherrypy into it.
For lots of products with performance as a criterion, pyqt toolchain is so much better than electron. And programming in qt isnt bad at all.
Equally, it's free. Alfred wants me to pay for it again to upgrade to the newest version, but I'm feeling like I kind of don't want to sink more money into it ..
I once was a fan of electron until I ran some apps on a low end surface with little disk space. Something like react native for the desktop could become a huge success.
Agreed that this is essentially the "Atom of Alfred" with the web container. Seems interesting but Alfred is also an extremely polished product so many years in the making. As an existing Alfred user, it doesn't look good enough to make me switch.
i see some criticism of electron in the comments because of it's high memory footprint. If i would have to create an offline app i would also choose electron, because of it's simplicity and my familiarity with the technology. Is there something being done or planned to reduce the footprint? Or something on the roadmap? I would guess a browser is just not optimised for a use-case comparable to Cerebro (running as a daemon).
> I would guess a browser is just not optimised for a use-case comparable to Cerebro (running as a daemon).
That's pretty much it. There's no useful way to make electron slimmer in any way, since it comes with the full chrome browser in the backpack and there's nothing you can do, because chrome's being the base of the huge pyramid with your teeny tiny bits of html and js on top.
It's useful for proto-typing or one-off apps, but for long-running things you're better of making it a chrome app directly (i.e. reusing Chrome's memory foot-print), or making it into a proper native app.
Having "information at your fingertips" really kills productivity for me. I need long stretches away from twitch reactions to "what's the capital of Uganda?" type of intrusive thoughts. I'd honestly pay for a "2 click" browser extension where you only get to make two clicks on any link per hour for a given domain on a blacklist of time sinks during certain hours.
Forgive me if you aren't looking for advice, but I recommend a distraction notebook:
Keep a small notebook beside you and promise yourself you are going to focus on the topic at hand for a period of time. When a thought, question or search topic pops into your brain, write it in the notebook. When you have some free time you can pick up the notebook at look up all those things. Of course, I often find that coming back to them they aren't all that important at all, and feeling of desperately needing to know has gone.
Here is more of a nuclear option that lets you micro manage your activity on an os-level. Unfortunately no Linux client afaik. A bit pricy, but very customizable and very effective:
https://focusme.com
I love the idea of extending it with Javascript. Every service my company uses has an API that'd be (presumably) trivial to wire-in to this, making for a nice alternative to the traditional informational portal.
I used Launchy for years but then when setting up my last day to day laptop switched to Wox (http://www.getwox.com/) after trying Hain. It was too limited at that point.
On Linux, I use Super (Windows) key to use the inbuilt launcher which meets all my requirements. If Windows had anywhere near this level of usefulness in its start menu I wouldn't need the third party Wox.
Great to see some open sourced based efforts in this area. Imho FOSS is a promising approach for this kind of helper apps. Although I've tried a few of the closed source alternatives I'm not yet definitely sold to one. A community driven approach could provide a better result in the long run. The best of luck for the future...
Every thread I have seen here on HN that presents another bloated Electron app seems to be filled with criticism, and I must admit that this restores my faith in humanity. If the consensus was that Electron apps is a good thing and we need more of them, it would be very depressing.
I do think the criticism is productive, because it's usually not targeted against the developer or the app idea, but that it's built on the Electron framework. Maybe many developers using Electron do not have much experience and it seems like a good idea in their heads. In this case criticism is helpful because the developer will learn that Electron is bad and should be avoided.
A crude analogy: If I was driving on an divided highway in the wrong lane without knowing, I would be very grateful if the first car I met in the opposite lane would use the horn and blink the lights to get my attention so I could immediately stop and turn around.
Not as polished, but I wrote something similar that leverages Google or DuckDuckGo on top of Hammerspoon. If you're in to little tweaks like this to boost your productivity on a Mac, definitely check out Hammerspoon. Hammerspoon is quite light, and runs on Lua.
Is finding things such a pain point for many people? I work with a few tools/programs, and a few locations where my documents and data live. I know where those are and go to them so often it takes no effort. The few times I do need to go elsewhere, the tools that come with the OS work fine.
So, sure, great, more power to you if you want to write a tool like this. I'm just not feeling the pain that would make me have any interest in giving it a try.
I don't use my mouse for navigation if I can help it. With Alfred (similar tool to this) I can navigation to any folder on my system, any contact, search on duckduckgo, translate words/sentences/currency, navigate my clipboard, restart/shutdown/lock my computer, open any app with just a keyboard shortcut and a few letters that specify what I'm going for.
It's like a very precise search engine for your personal machine.
It's amazing how great it works, and not having that available when I'm using a computer ruins things for me.
If that is not enough, Alfred also has lots of other awesome features.
[+] [-] gregparadee|9 years ago|reply
As many others in this thread have pointed out, Cerebro is a pretty cool app that borrows from some core OS functionality and improves on it. Is its design 100% perfect? Maybe not. However, instead of commenting the application isn't exactly the way YOU would have done it and complaining try offering some constructive criticism.
If the app is memory hogging, not following best coding practices, or you have a cool idea of how something could be done instead share that feedback and offer better ways to do things. Not only does this benefit the developers working on this app but it helps others who may be working on becoming better developers themselves.
I myself am a naive developer. However I enjoy developing in my free time to keep myself thinking and I enjoy learning new things. I frequently visit this community to see what others are working on and looking at all the cool applications that people develop is a great way to pass time. If I had worked on something really hard, posted it, and then received some of these comments I would be extremely discouraged.
That said, if a Cerebro developer is reading, this looks like a really cool improvement on Spotlight (I use OSX). Keep up the good work and don't let the negative comments in here discourage you or your team!
[+] [-] afpx|9 years ago|reply
For instance, I am currently learning data science from the ground up (i.e. reading the fundamental mathematical literature) and doing it outside of a university program. It is disheartening to post a question, to say Cross Validated, and have a few critical commenters almost laugh the motivation out of me. So, I can emphasize.
However, on the other hand, as a software practitioner, I am often on the other side of the fence. In this field in particular it seems like there are often amateurs who decide to jump in with an arrogant disrespect for the existing community knowledge and practices. I think it's because software is very cool now (like statistics, etc.). And, in software it's easy to find some code and libraries and 'wire them together' in crude ways.
Note, I am not implying that this is the case here! I haven't even looked at the software nor read most of the comments. But, since I often see this happening, I know that such comments are expected. I'm only commenting on your perspective.
I am not against autodidacts. In fact, I am one myself. And, I encourage it. But, all autodidacts should expect and embrace criticism from the community. It sucks to take it, because often commenters are often overly harsh and blunt. But, in defense of them, every community will be like this, to some degree. And, it's expected. Many of these practitioners have spent their life doing it, and they have some right to be critical, don't they?
[+] [-] Mithaldu|9 years ago|reply
In spirit i agree with you.
In practice the problem here is, to use a really crude analogy:
The Cerebro developers rented an empty mall for super cheap, then opened a single restaurant in it. Some people won't mind driving all the way there and walking through the entire thing to get to the restaurant, other people will.
The advice then in that situation is to one of these:
1. Demolish the parts of the mall that aren't used, piece by piece, while trying to not knock over the restaurant situated on the third floor, so other people can build their houses on the now free space, closer to the restaurant.
2. Abandon it and build a new restaurant in the middle of the city.
Everyone recognizes that both of these are very expensive solutions and unlikely to ever be implemented, so you end up with two kind of people.
1. Those who shrug and walk away saying nothing.
2. Those who go, with various amounts of emphasis: "Aw, i wish you hadn't done that."
There is no happy middle ground possible here, sadly.
[+] [-] exadeci|9 years ago|reply
And the only difference it has is being much heavier because it's electron.
[+] [-] mememachine|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unhammer|9 years ago|reply
* Ulauncher http://ulauncher.io/
* Albert https://github.com/albertlauncher/albert#albert-
* Synapse https://launchpad.net/synapse-project
* Kupfer https://kupferlauncher.github.io/
* Zazu http://zazuapp.org/
* M-x counsel-linux-app http://oremacs.com/2016/03/16/counsel-linux-app/
I've tried a couple, but I always end up back to Alt+F2 in XFCE, since most of these launchers always start so slowly in comparison, and I never use any other features (more than once) than starting Firefox/Emacs/Terminal …
[+] [-] andrepd|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nkg|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ue_|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] myfonj|9 years ago|reply
It basically connects to the NTFS database, fo that's why it is instant. Still don't understand why OS does not do this.
[0] http://voidtools.com/
[+] [-] m3Lith|9 years ago|reply
[0] http://www.getwox.com/
[+] [-] captn3m0|9 years ago|reply
I use locate for now, but I'm still to find something that does it as well.
[+] [-] otterpro|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|9 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] juandazapata|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] netsharc|9 years ago|reply
1) https://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/findrun/
[+] [-] sschueller|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sandGorgon|9 years ago|reply
We made it run on Windows XP machine with 256 mb ram total. Oh and we embedded cherrypy into it.
For lots of products with performance as a criterion, pyqt toolchain is so much better than electron. And programming in qt isnt bad at all.
[+] [-] Longhanks|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fredsir|9 years ago|reply
Yes it is.
Not gonna replace (native) Alfred for me, no.
[+] [-] aetherspawn|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] emsy|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] motoboi|9 years ago|reply
Electron apps drain my mac battery super fast. It's a pity.
[+] [-] tedmiston|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lfcipriani|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] LeanderK|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Mithaldu|9 years ago|reply
That's pretty much it. There's no useful way to make electron slimmer in any way, since it comes with the full chrome browser in the backpack and there's nothing you can do, because chrome's being the base of the huge pyramid with your teeny tiny bits of html and js on top.
It's useful for proto-typing or one-off apps, but for long-running things you're better of making it a chrome app directly (i.e. reusing Chrome's memory foot-print), or making it into a proper native app.
[+] [-] flocial|9 years ago|reply
Having "information at your fingertips" really kills productivity for me. I need long stretches away from twitch reactions to "what's the capital of Uganda?" type of intrusive thoughts. I'd honestly pay for a "2 click" browser extension where you only get to make two clicks on any link per hour for a given domain on a blacklist of time sinks during certain hours.
[+] [-] laurieg|9 years ago|reply
Keep a small notebook beside you and promise yourself you are going to focus on the topic at hand for a period of time. When a thought, question or search topic pops into your brain, write it in the notebook. When you have some free time you can pick up the notebook at look up all those things. Of course, I often find that coming back to them they aren't all that important at all, and feeling of desperately needing to know has gone.
[+] [-] bmpafa|9 years ago|reply
Here is more of a nuclear option that lets you micro manage your activity on an os-level. Unfortunately no Linux client afaik. A bit pricy, but very customizable and very effective: https://focusme.com
[+] [-] bmpafa|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] throwaway2048|9 years ago|reply
Am i missing something here?
[+] [-] rmrfrmrf|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] amcrouch|9 years ago|reply
On Linux, I use Super (Windows) key to use the inbuilt launcher which meets all my requirements. If Windows had anywhere near this level of usefulness in its start menu I wouldn't need the third party Wox.
[+] [-] otterpro|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wideem|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] motyar|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] harrygeez|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] snowcrshd|9 years ago|reply
[1] https://github.com/appetizermonster/hain
[+] [-] binaryanomaly|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] uziar|9 years ago|reply
I do think the criticism is productive, because it's usually not targeted against the developer or the app idea, but that it's built on the Electron framework. Maybe many developers using Electron do not have much experience and it seems like a good idea in their heads. In this case criticism is helpful because the developer will learn that Electron is bad and should be avoided.
A crude analogy: If I was driving on an divided highway in the wrong lane without knowing, I would be very grateful if the first car I met in the opposite lane would use the horn and blink the lights to get my attention so I could immediately stop and turn around.
[+] [-] vorticalbox|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nathancahill|9 years ago|reply
Here's my version, Anycomplete: http://github.com/nathancahill/Anycomplete/
And the Show HN thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13065670
[+] [-] codingdave|9 years ago|reply
So, sure, great, more power to you if you want to write a tool like this. I'm just not feeling the pain that would make me have any interest in giving it a try.
[+] [-] fredsir|9 years ago|reply
It's like a very precise search engine for your personal machine.
It's amazing how great it works, and not having that available when I'm using a computer ruins things for me.
If that is not enough, Alfred also has lots of other awesome features.