👉 Overview
👀 What ?
Electron is a framework for creating native applications with web technologies like JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. It takes care of the hard parts so you can focus on the core of your application.
🧐 Why ?
Electron is important because it allows developers to create desktop applications using web technologies. These applications are cross-platform, running on Windows, Mac, and Linux. This means developers can write one codebase for all platforms, saving time and resources.
⛏️ How ?
To get started with Electron, you first need to install Node.js and npm on your computer. Then, you can install Electron globally on your machine by running 'npm install -g electron'. After that, you can create a new folder on your computer, navigate into it and run 'npm init' to start a new project. Then, you can start creating your Electron application by creating a 'main.js' file and a 'index.html' file.
⏳ When ?
Electron was first released by GitHub in 2013 as a framework for building Atom, GitHub's hackable text editor. Since then, it has been used to create many popular apps including Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Visual Studio Code.
⚙️ Technical Explanations
Electron combines Chromium (for displaying web content) and Node.js (for working with the local filesystem and the operating system) into a single runtime. Each Electron app runs in its own thread, which improves performance and makes it easier to debug. Electron also provides a set of APIs for interacting with the operating system, including APIs for menus, notifications, and the system tray.