Desktop Apps with JavaScript

Felix Rieseberg, co-creator of Slack, an ardent fan of productivity and simple applications is an expert at the possibilities this framework allows. He uses his coding skills to build a code editor in the second a part of his presentation: 

Full video from infoShare 2017:

We’re talking Electron here. 

Electron is made up of: Node.js (a solution to build software in Java Script, which runs on different platforms), Chromium (an open source product of the product Chrome most of us know) and C++ (for writing the more ambitious elements). 

You can use Electron to build cross-platform desktop applications and then pack them up for Windows, Mac and Linux. It’s convenient to use as you write mostly in Java and HTML, while C++ stays available for the more difficult parts. It starts as an invisible Node-like process and can create renderer processes, manage inter process communication as well as open multiple processes at the same time.

After an introductory start with pacakage.json (which is a must in npm packages), then it’s just „start”:„electron”,” to kick it off. At the beginning, everything works like in OJS but soon it turns out Electron has additional modules. With a line of command, a Chromium browser window appears and then it’s quite easy to load a file and add stuff inside.
 
Wow. Just a few lines of code and an editor is ready! Electron is easy to use and really makes things easier.

Felix Rieseberg is a member of an extremely efficient team that’s building Slack for macOS, Windows, and Linux. He also uses and contributes to the framework Electron.  A former Microsoft employee, he now uses his skills to build desktop software that makes working life simpler, more pleasant and more productive.

Tags: building desktop software using JavaScript, build software in Java, cross-platform desktop applications,  Electron, use Electron, Node.js, Chromium, Node-like process, package.json