Exploring HarmonyOS Next: ArkUI Development Framework and Taro Integration
This article introduces Huawei's upcoming HarmonyOS Next, explains the ArkUI framework with its declarative ArkTS and Web‑like development models, compares the two paradigms, and details how the Taro framework can bridge Web development practices to ArkTS for cross‑platform app creation.
The article discusses Huawei's upcoming HarmonyOS Next, which will remove all AOSP code to become a fully independent operating system, reducing unnecessary code by about 40% and improving simplicity and performance.
It highlights that many Chinese internet companies have announced native ArkUI development for HarmonyOS and are recruiting engineers, indicating a rapidly expanding ecosystem.
ArkUI offers two development paradigms: a declarative approach using ArkTS (an extension of TypeScript) and a Web‑like approach using HML, CSS, and JavaScript, which aligns with traditional front‑end workflows.
The declarative paradigm, similar to Flutter and Compose, provides richer UI capabilities and better performance for complex applications, while the Web‑like paradigm is easier for front‑end developers but suits simpler apps.
The article explains the architecture of the declarative model, where the front‑end handles DSL‑level UI components and the back‑end, written in C++, supports the syntax, component system, and rendering pipeline, with Huawei's Ark compiler enabling mixed JS, ArkTS, and C++ code and AOT compilation.
It then introduces Taro's role in bridging the Web‑like paradigm to ArkTS, describing a solution that maps virtual DOM generated by React/Vue runtimes to ArkTS custom component trees, simulating DOM/BOM APIs in the ArkTS environment and rendering through HarmonyOS's Skia‑based engine.
During the 2023 Huawei Developer Conference, the Taro team presented this adaptation strategy, received Huawei's technical support, and plans to release a usable version by late December.
Finally, the article looks forward to further posts covering detailed adaptation principles, best practices, and performance optimizations, expressing optimism about HarmonyOS Next's potential to advance the domestic mobile OS landscape.
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