It is true mobile app development is increasing at the speed of light. But, desktop app development is also not far behind.
Developers are looking for the cross-platform desktop app development or want to port the web app to the desktop.
There is a problem, if developers have mastered just web development and less aware of APIs used for various desktop platforms, then building the excellent application leveraging JavaScript and HTML5 that work on desktop impeccably was a hard nut to crack.
That’s where electron framework comes to the rescue.
What’s Electron?
The electron is an open source framework that’s actually built for the Atom code editor. It uses Node.JS and chromium to enable the desktop app development that is compatible on three platforms- Mac, Windows, and Linux with web technologies such as HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS.
The framework eases the app development by taking care of hard parts and providing core functionalities such as automatic updates, notifications, native menus, Windows installers, app crash reporting, and debugging and profiling.
These appealing benefits make the framework to be leveraged by the world-renowned companies for desktop development.
The real scenario…
The apps built using electron framework looks akin to Node.JS application. The electron apps are wrapped with a derivative of NPM packager and hosted in a directory scripts and HTML5.
The code always begins with the main.JS script that manages the windows and work as an event hub for the application. With prebuilt electron, you can build the app from the scratch in your own environment.
Besides, developers can leverage all the node.JS modules alongside electron modules in an electron application while working with any host OS. Also, the learning curve of Node.JS is short so handling the main and render process becomes plain-sailing.
The IPC module of electron handles and manage the interprocess communication where messages can be sent synchronously or asynchronously between the windows. This method allows the content transfer to the main process from isolated processes to gain the access to the file system.
Also, the support electron provides to Node.JS development service module becomes advantageous to speed up the app development. It works out-of-the-box as electron uses various versions of the JavaScript.
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The benefits that cannot be ignored.
The developers are not required to learn new languages that save a lot of time and they can reuse the knowledge and experience so there is no need to hire the web development experts for every platform or operating system to work on. At the same time, it reduces the time and costs involved in the development.
Conclusion
Building the desktop app for different platforms is prove to be costly and murkier as well. With electron framework, the scene is completely changed. Also, the JavaScript that’s highly used for web development, now taking over the desktop as well with the introduction of electron framework.
The framework is still in the rudimentary stage and getting upgraded with time and it can be said that soon it will blur the line between web applications and desktop applications.
Innovate with cross-platform desktop app development.
