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React Native Elements VS Blockly

Compare React Native Elements VS Blockly and see what are their differences

React Native Elements logo React Native Elements

Cross-platform React Native UI Toolkit

Blockly logo Blockly

Blockly is a library for building visual programming editors.
  • React Native Elements Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-27
  • Blockly Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-18

React Native Elements features and specs

  • Consistent Design
    React Native Elements provides a consistent design across different platforms by offering a set of highly customizable UI components that adhere to the material design and iOS design guidelines.
  • Ease of Use
    The library is beginner-friendly with a focus on ease of use, allowing developers to create high-quality UIs quickly and with minimal effort.
  • Customizable Components
    Components in React Native Elements are easily customizable with a rich set of props, allowing developers to tweak and modify them to fit the specific design requirements of their applications.
  • Rich Community Support
    Backed by a strong community and a dedicated team, React Native Elements offers extensive documentation, tutorials, and community support for resolving any issues or queries.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Built to support both iOS and Android, React Native Elements allows developers to build applications with a consistent look and feel across multiple platforms.

Possible disadvantages of React Native Elements

  • Limited Advanced Components
    While React Native Elements offers a wide variety of basic UI components, it may lack some advanced components that require developers to implement their own solutions or integrate additional libraries.
  • Performance Overhead
    The abstraction layer added by using React Native Elements may introduce some performance overhead compared to building components from scratch, especially for more complex or resource-intensive applications.
  • Third-party Dependency
    Relying on a third-party library means developers may face issues related to external dependencies such as delays in updates or compatibility issues with newer versions of React Native.
  • Learning Curve for Customization
    While the library is designed to be easy to use, fully customizing the components to meet specific UI/UX requirements may involve a learning curve, especially for developers new to the ecosystem.

Blockly features and specs

  • User-Friendly
    Blockly offers a highly intuitive and visual interface. Users, especially beginners and non-programmers, can easily drag and drop blocks to create programs without needing to write code manually.
  • Educational Value
    Blockly is excellent for educational purposes. It simplifies the learning curve for programming by abstracting the complexities of syntax, allowing learners to focus on understanding logic and computational thinking.
  • Cross-Language Support
    Blockly can generate code for multiple programming languages (JavaScript, Python, PHP, Lua, Dart). This makes it versatile and useful for teaching and transitioning to various languages.
  • Customizability
    Blockly is highly customizable. Developers can create custom blocks and define their own rules, making it adaptable to various projects and domain-specific needs.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source project, Blockly provides the flexibility to modify and extend the toolkit to fit specific requirements. This open nature encourages community contributions and improvements.

Possible disadvantages of Blockly

  • Limited Complexity
    Blockly is designed for simplicity and may not handle very complex programming tasks efficiently. Advanced users might find it insufficient for sophisticated or large-scale projects.
  • Performance Overhead
    The visual programming model can introduce performance overhead. Converting blocks to executable code and running it can be less efficient compared to hand-written code, especially for performance-critical applications.
  • Learning Transition
    While Blockly is great for beginners, transitioning from block-based programming to traditional text-based coding can be challenging. Users may need additional guidance to adapt to the intricacies of syntax and coding best practices.
  • Limited Debugging Tools
    Blockly does not offer advanced debugging tools. Debugging issues can be more challenging compared to traditional IDEs that provide sophisticated debugging capabilities.
  • Scalability Issues
    For large projects, the block-based approach can become unwieldy and harder to manage compared to traditional text-based code which can be more neatly structured and maintained.

Analysis of Blockly

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Blockly is a good tool, especially for educational environments and projects that benefit from visual programming. It's well-supported by Google and the community, making it a reliable choice for developers.

Why this product is good

  • Blockly is a powerful library for creating visual programming editors. Its intuitive drag-and-drop interface allows both beginners and advanced programmers to create code blocks that can be converted into various text-based programming languages like JavaScript, Python, and more. This ease of use makes it an excellent tool for educational purposes and rapid prototyping.

Recommended for

  • Educators looking to introduce programming concepts to students.
  • Developers seeking to build applications with a visual programming interface.
  • Hobbyists interested in creating projects without extensive coding knowledge.
  • Organizations aiming to develop interactive tutorials and learning platforms.

React Native Elements videos

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Blockly videos

Blockly: Using Block Based Coding in your App

More videos:

  • Review - Fable Blockly Review
  • Review - Trying Out Blockly, Google's New Programming Language [DiceTV]

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to React Native Elements and Blockly)
React Components
100 100%
0% 0
Web Frameworks
0 0%
100% 100
Design Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
21 21%
79% 79

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare React Native Elements and Blockly

React Native Elements Reviews

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Blockly Reviews

Top 20 Javascript Libraries
Blockly, a creation of Google, is a web-based visual programming editor. When added to the code, the library adds an editor to the app that represents code snippets like loops, expressions, variables, and more as blocks. The best part is that you can create custom code, and the output is syntactically correct in your choice of the programming language. Blockly has no...
Source: hackr.io

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Blockly seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 31 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

React Native Elements mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of React Native Elements yet. Tracking of React Native Elements recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Blockly mentions (31)

  • Ask HN: Platform for 11 year old to create video games?
    Scratch is fantastic. There are also a number of similar (block-based) tools that let you create your own custom blocks and see the code behind them - e.g. Blockly (https://developers.google.com/blockly). - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Ask HN: Modern Day Equivalent to HyperCard?
    If your kid is already doing Scratch, Blockly is a really easy next step. https://developers.google.com/blockly Critically, Blockly can emit JavaScript and Python, plus it supports plugins for extended functionality. So the kid can stay inside the blockly universe for as long as they like, but easily peer under the hood and get into Python or JavaScript as soon as they like. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • A shortage of teachers for computer science classes in California
    The issue with Alice is that graphical, block based coding is not at all an ergonomic way to code. Sure, C++ probably isn't the best for an intro CS courses, either, but even just Python with some wrappers over SDL to draw sprites is not only a better teaching tool it's also forms a more useful springboard to build other projects. Graphical, block based coding seems to be a common attempt to make coding more... - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • โšง๏ธŽ Super Smash Siblings Trans
    Unless it would contradict canon, every stage is very bright, highly interactive, full of pre-placed items, and so huge that you can usually run from your NPC opponents and enjoy exploring the stage in peace while they catch up to you. All buildings have Linux computers with actual internet access that allow you to program and print out your own projectiles/books/flags/UNO reverse cards/shinigami eyes/soupcans/cis... Source: almost 3 years ago
  • Scratch is the worldโ€™s largest coding community for children
    If your kids tinker with Scratch, try out TurboWarp[1], a Scratch mod that compiles projects to JavaScript. Other alternatives to tinker with are Blocky[2] and Snap[3]. 1. https://turbowarp.org 2. https://developers.google.com/blockly/ 3. https://snap.berkeley.edu. - Source: Hacker News / over 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing React Native Elements and Blockly, you can also consider the following products

NativeBase - Experience the awesomeness of React Native without the pain

Spring Framework - The Spring Framework provides a comprehensive programming and configuration model for modern Java-based enterprise applications - on any kind of deployment platform.

React Native Paper - React Native Paper is a high-quality, standard-compliant Material Design library that has you covered in all major use-cases.

Spark Mail - Spark helps you take your inbox under control. Instantly see whatโ€™s important and quickly clean up the rest. Spark for Teams allows you to create, discuss, and share email with your colleagues

React Native UI Kitten - Customizable and reusable react-native component kit

Grails - An Open Source, full stack, web application framework for the JVM