[jawngee]

    Else even Objective-C apps, with the Obj-C messaging 
    system are not native, e.g. they delegate a lot to 
    C-based APIs...

For starters, that doesn't make any sense. Note the `C` part of Objective-C.

Secondly, native infers compiled to executable native code, not interpreted or JIT'd via an intermediary.

[coldtea]

>Secondly, native infers compiled to executable native code, not interpreted or JIT'd via an intermediary

And the GUI/Widgets part you get to use through JS here is just that (the native implementation from the OS GUI libs), which, as I said, is what users really care about when they ask for native apps.

See also the sibling comment about .NET apps and Windows.

[doktrin]

> which, as I said, is what users really care about when they ask for native apps

That's true, but that's not what developers understand "native" to mean. Since most readers here are technical in some fashion, it makes more sense to use the more specific definition of the term (e.g. compiled, not jit'd, interpreted or otherwise managed)

[bruce_one]

Wouldn't that definition make Dalvik(/Java) applications on Android non-native?

[pjmlp]

Yes, that is why there is the NDK, aka Native Development Kit.

Java only became native code on Android with the ART bytecode to native compiler.

However, native can also mean, native to the platform. In this case, Java even with Dalvik is native to the Android platform.

[cwyers]

I don't think anyone considers .NET apps non-native on Windows.

[jawngee]

I'm pretty sure they're considered `managed`, not native. Otherwise, .NET Native wouldn't exist:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn584397(v=vs.110)....