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Electron (software framework)

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Electron
Developer(s)GitHub
Initial release15 July 2013; 11 years ago (2013-07-15)[1]
Stable release
1.7.6 / 9 August 2017; 7 years ago (2017-08-09)[2]
Repository
Written inC++ and JavaScript
Operating systemWindows, Linux and macOS
Platformx86, x64, ARM
LicenseMIT License[3]
Websitewww.electronjs.org Edit this on Wikidata

Electron (formerly known as Atom Shell[4]) is an open-source framework created by Cheng Zhao, and now developed by GitHub.[5] It allows for the development of desktop GUI applications using front and back end components originally developed for web applications: Node.js runtime for the backend and Chromium for the frontend. Electron is the main GUI framework behind several notable open-source projects including GitHub's Atom[6] and Microsoft's Visual Studio Code[7] source code editors and the Light Table[8] IDE, in addition to the freeware desktop client for the Discord chat service.

History

  • On 11 April in 2013, Electron was started as Atom Shell.[9]
  • On 6 May 2014, Atom and Atom Shell became open-source with MIT license.[10]
  • On 17 April 2015, Atom Shell was renamed to Electron.[11]
  • On 11 May 2016, Electron reached version 1.0.[12]
  • On 20 May 2016, Electron allowed submitting packaged apps to the Mac App Store.[13][14][15][16]
  • On 2 August 2016, Windows Store support for Electron apps was added.[17][18]

Structure of an Electron application

A basic Electron app consists of three files: package.json (metadata), main.js (code) and index.html (graphical user interface). The framework is provided by the Electron executable file (electron.exe in Windows, electron.app on macOS and electron on Linux). Developers wishing to add branding and custom icon can rename and/or edit the Electron executable file.

The most important file in the electron file is package.json. It keeps information about package. The most common information in package.json is:

  • "name", the application name
  • "version", the application version string
  • "main", the name of the main script file of the application

package.json is an npm file.[19]

Applications using Electron

A significant number of desktop applications are built with Electron including:[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ Earliest tagged release
  2. ^ "Release Notes". github.com. GitHub. 9 August 2017.
  3. ^ "electron/LICENSE at master". GitHub. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  4. ^ Sawicki, Kevin (23 April 2015). "Atom Shell is now Electron". Atom. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  5. ^ https://github.com/atom/electron
  6. ^ https://github.com/atom/atom
  7. ^ James, Mike (23 November 2015). "Visual Studio Code - Now With Added Extensions". I Programmer. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  8. ^ Horner, Gabriel (10 December 2015). "Light Table 0.8.0". Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  9. ^ Zhao, Cheng (11 April 2013). "Add submodules. · electron/electron@6ef8875". GitHub. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  10. ^ Sobo, Nathan (6 May 2014). "Atom Is Now Open Source". Atom Blog. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  11. ^ Sawicki, Kevin (8 April 2015). "Rename to electron by kevinsawicki · Pull Request #1389 · electron/electron". GitHub. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  12. ^ Lord, Jessica (11 May 2016). "Electron 1.0". Electron blog. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  13. ^ "Mac App Store Submission Guide". Electron Documentation. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  14. ^ Zhao, Cheng (16 October 2015). "Release electron v0.34.0 · electron/electron". OS X: Add experiment build for Mac App Store, read Mac App Store Submission Guide for more.
  15. ^ Zhao, Cheng (20 May 2016). "Release electron v1.1.1 · electron/electron". OS X: Enable Mac App Store sandboxing without using temporary-exception. #5584, #5601
  16. ^ Zhao, Cheng (18 May 2016). "Merge pull request #5584 from electron/sandbox-no-expl · electron/electron@e05f795".
  17. ^ "Windows Store Guide". Electron Documentation. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  18. ^ Rieseberg, Felix (17 September 2016). "Update Windows Store Language · electron/electron@084110c". Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  19. ^ "package.json". npm Documentation. Retrieved 19 March 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  20. ^ "Apps". Electron. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  21. ^ Sawicki, Kevin (23 April 2015). "Atom Shell is now Electron". Electron. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  22. ^ Haack, Phil (16 May 2017). "Announcing Git Integration for Atom and GitHub Desktop Beta". The GitHub Blog. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  23. ^ Horner, Gabriel (10 December 2015). "Light Table 0.8.0". Light Table Blog. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  24. ^ "Building hybrid applications with Electron". Several People Are Coding. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  25. ^ Bright, Peter (29 April 2015). "Microsoft's new Code editor is built on Google's Chromium". Ars Technica. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  26. ^ https://github.com/wireapp/wire-desktop


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