Link: The (not so) hidden cost of sharing code between iOS and Android
Until very recently, Dropbox had a technical strategy on mobile of sharing code between iOS and Android via C++. The idea behind this strategy was simple—write the code once in C++ instead of twice in Java and Objective C. …
We have now completely backed off from this strategy in favor of using each platforms’ native languages (primarily Swift and Kotlin, which didn’t exist when we started out). This decision was due to the (not so) hidden cost associated with code sharing.
Feels like just another case of simple winning out over clever, even if it initially looks like simple is “more effort”.
Overly clever solutions often have hidden costs than simple solutions do not.