People being afraid of C++ is not as big a problem as people not being afraid of C++

> (if you are afraid of C++)

Iterating front-end development with Javascript+html+css is simpler and quicker than doing the same with C++ because you don't have to recompile for each iteration. In some cases I don't even need to restart the app.

Also, I have been able to debug in a few nasty cases by getting users to switch out a js/html file and restart the app. That's impossible to do with C++ given the same time/effort constraints.

Those are just two fairly small but measurable examples. There are also drawbacks to having not chosen Qt for the front-end. But those data points and more were part of a rather complicated cost-benefit analysis of what was available to make a cross platform GUI app in a reasonable amount of time.

I don't see what a search for a "true" toolkit has to do with such an analysis. I don't see what caricatures of one camp or another as unduly emotional has to do with such an analysis. What am I missing?

You should do some Qt frontend development some time. A lot of is done in QML and doesn't need recompilation, and can be hot-reloaded at runtime. It's a false dichotomy, Qt offers these benefits to a great extend when used well.

Qt QML is javascript...

But time and money is a real constraint for projects. It's hard enough writing native Android, native iOS, and a web app to boot without also having to write native Mac, Linux, and Windows and dealing with all the cross platform UI quirks on Qt.

Qt handles cross-platform better than any other framework.

Wait, what? How are you going to write a native app with less quirks than Qt? VTK? That's a little disingenuous.

This is in reference to using Electron so you don't have to both write a web app and a native desktop app using Qt (in addition to native mobile, where performance issues are much more noticeable).

...and electron apps have no UI quirks and no performance issues on mobile.

The whole point of Qt is that you don't have cross-platform UI quirks.

You still have quirks. Qt helps for the bulk of the work, sure, but OSX, Windows, and Linux all have unique quirks that have to be dealt with.

Any OS-quirks you experience with Qt are likely the nature of cross-development (path separators, toolbars, sys-trays), stuff that you'd likely experience with any framework.

Qt's cross-platform support is amazing.