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Frame from CppCon 2014: Zaika Antoun "Microsoft w/ C++ to Deliver Office Across Different Platforms, Part I" Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

CppCon 2014: Zaika Antoun "Microsoft w/ C++ to Deliver Office Across Different Platforms, Part I"

48 videos recommended on HN
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2 HN users recommended this talk2 months2015–2019 score 2
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Cited as evidence that large production apps share a C++ core with native UI, in cross-platform and React Native or Flutter debates.

A CppCon 2014 talk from Microsoft engineers on using portable single-source C++ to deliver Office across iOS, Android, Windows and Mac. It covers architectures, techniques and lessons from real cross-platform projects.

“There's a pretty interesting video of how the Office team uses C++ for their cross-platform efforts” (HN, 2015)

2 recommendations · 4 citations · Talks · advanced · partly dated

6 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@akoeplinger Apr 2015 Recommends
on HN thread Visual C++ Cross-Platform Mobile
There's a pretty interesting video of how the Office team uses C++ for their cross-platform efforts from CppCon 2014: [this video]
How the Office team uses C++ across platforms

Citations, criticism and jokes

@xor_null Jun 2018 Cites it
on HN thread Office 365, Skype, MS Teams, and VS Code Are All Being Rewritten in React Native
I wonder, not long ago there was a c++ conference were two Microsoft employees were talking about the Office mobile apps and how they developed it [1]. They said that they developed the main part in c++ and the ui part in the respective ui platform (cocoa/android ui framework). Would be interesting why they moved from this approach to React native. [1] [this video]
Office mobile apps built with shared C++ core and native UI
@pjmlp Sep 2018 Cites it
on HN thread $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft
Since 2014 not anymore. The Office team did a couple of session at CppCon about how they refactored the code. "CppCon 2014: Zaika Antoun "Microsoft w/ C++ to Deliver Office Across Different Platforms" [this video] [link]
Office team session on refactoring code for multiple platforms
@pjmlp Aug 2019 Cites it
on HN thread Flutter looks good, but is painful
Read more
I did provide the information for it, Dropbox and Microsoft talks at CppCon, easy with some Google fu. CppCon 2014: Zaika Antoun "Microsoft w/ C++ to Deliver Office Across Different Platforms, Part I" [this video] CppCon 2014: Zaika Antoun "Microsoft w/ C++ to Deliver Office Across Different Platforms, Part II" [link] CppCon 2015: Jacob Potter & Andrew Twyman “Bridging Languages Cross-Platform..." [link] CppCon 2017: Stephen Spann “Cross-Platform Apps with Dropbox’s Djinni...” [link] CppCon 2014: T. Grue & S. Kabbes "A Deep Dive into 2 Cross-Platform Mobile Apps Written in C++" [link] Naturally the native UI has to be used. Are we talking about having a good user experience here, or having the easy lazy path for the developer?
Cited as evidence of C++ with native UI in production
@pjmlp Sep 2019 Cites it
on HN thread Ask HN: React Native or Flutter?
Yes, C++ with native views. How do you think Microsoft does Office on Android and iOS? As for verification, they have plenty of talks at CppCon and BUILD about how they do it. EDIT: to save you some work. CppCon 2014: Zaika Antoun "Microsoft w/ C++ to Deliver Office Across Different Platforms, Part I" [this video] CppCon 2014: Zaika Antoun "Microsoft w/ C++ to Deliver Office Across Different Platforms, Part II" [link] Reacting to Dropbox: another take on cross-platform C++ development [link] Ashampoo Systems GmbH [link]
Cited as verification that Office uses C++ with native views

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