WhoBuilt

Why choose Re.Pack over Metro?

Aug 10, 2021· 3 min· 1.0K views·Watch on YouTube

An unnamed Callstack main speaker explains when Re.Pack can be a better fit than Metro, with a host asking about its use cases.

Complex project structures

The speaker says Webpack can handle projects with structures that may be difficult to bundle with Metro, including Git submodules and symlinks. Re.Pack can be configured to resolve source files and dependencies wherever they are located.

Load code for specific users

Code splitting can help modular applications avoid shipping every feature to every user. For example, an app could load functionality on demand based on a user’s subscription plan.

Build super apps from smaller apps

A super app might contain 50 mini apps, but users do not need all of them at installation. The speaker describes shipping as little as possible and downloading a mini app when someone wants to use it.

Extend functionality at runtime

The speaker generalizes the use case to apps that download code or add functionality at runtime. As an example, a text processor could detect the user’s language and download language-specific analytics or AI code.

Takeaways

  • Consider Re.Pack when Metro struggles with symlinks, Git submodules, or other unconventional project structures.
  • Use code splitting to keep features for specific user groups out of the initial app bundle.
  • For a super app, load mini apps on demand instead of shipping all of them upfront.
  • Runtime downloads can support functionality tailored to context, such as language-specific processing.

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What was claimed 4

  • feature
    Re.Pack: Can be configured to resolve source files and dependencies in complex or unconventional project structures, including those with Git submodules or symlinks.
    “with Webpack, you can configure it to resolve all the source files and dependencies correctly”
    YouTube
    Unverified1 source· Talk
  • feature
    Re.Pack: Supports code splitting so application logic can be loaded on demand for selected user groups.
    “applications that could benefit from code splitting”
    YouTube
    Unverified1 source· Talk
  • feature
    Re.Pack: Can support super apps that download mini apps on demand.
    “You want to ship the least amount possible and download the rest on demand”
    YouTube
    Unverified1 source· Talk
  • feature
    Re.Pack: Can support applications that download code or extend functionality at runtime.
    “applications that want to download code or extend functionality on demand at runtime”
    YouTube
    Unverified1 source· Talk

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