Can you do Desktop Development using JavaScript? [closed]

Question

I know there's JScript.NET, but it isn't the same as the JavaScript we know from the web.

Does anyone know if there are any JavaScript based platforms/compilers for desktop development? Most specifically Windows desktop development.

Answer 1

There is XULRunner, which let's you build GUI apps like Firefox using JavaScript and XUL. It has a lot of extension to JavaScript though, using XPCOM. They also offer Prism which let's you build web apps that work offline, sort of like AIR. Yahoo uses it for their Zimbra email desktop client.

Answer 2

Yes, with Adobe AIR. Adobe AIR lets you make desktop applications with Javascript, Flex, or Flash.

Answer 3

Looks like there are 3 types of html5-desktop app

SDK

• https://qt-project.org/
• http://awesomium.com
• http://berkelium.org
• http://www.appcelerator.com/platform

Browser runtime

• http://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/XULRunner
• http://developer.chrome.com/apps/about_apps.html

Node.js based

• http://appjs.com/
• https://github.com/maccman/bowline

Answer 4

Windows 8 allows for Windows Store Apps to be written in HTML5/JavaScript.

Answer 5

"node-webkit is an app runtime based on Chromium and node.js. You can write native apps in HTML and Javascript with node-webkit. It also lets you call Node.js modules directly from the DOM..."

Answer 6

There's Titanium Developer which is similar to Adobe AIR (html+css+javascript), but does not require a framework to be pre-installed.

Answer 7

You can make a desktop application using XML and javascript (and/or VBS) using the Windows Script host.

The trick is to save your XML file with a .hta extension. See this reference.

Answer 8

There's SpiderMonkey, a JavaScript engine written in C and Rhino, an implementation of JavaScript in Java.

Answer 9

Try AppJS, It is an SDK on top of NodeJS and Chromium Embedded Framework. You can build desktop apps easily with the web technologies.

• Webpage: http://appjs.com
• Github: https://github.com/appjs

Answer 10

Google Gears. There's also Mozilla's XUL, but it's too bit complicated, IMHO (albeit extremely powerful).

Answer 11

Google has a new interesting technology going on. It's in a quite early stage but works good already. It's called Packaged Apps and is using Chrome as a runtime and works on both Pc and Mac. Have a look at http://developer.chrome.com/apps/about_apps.html

Answer 12

Another option I didn't see mentioned is for Cocoa (Mac OS X, iPhone OS) applications you can use a web view (embedded WebKit) as the application UI.

Answer 13

There's Yahoo's Konfabulator for the windows desktop.

Answer 14

Script# has extensions for Vista Gadgets.

http://projects.nikhilk.net/ScriptSharp/

Answer 15

You can try JavaLikeScript, it does not provide the same native/root objects that a web browser but it has network and user interface features.

Answer 16

Here are some JSOS (Javascript Operating Systems), sort-of still need a browser.

http://fractalbrain.net/ /* The Best. */

http://cometdesktop.com/ /* Alright. */

http://skylightproject.com/ /* Worst */

Answer 17

I answered with node-webkit above, but I recently saw a presentation on Tint2. It seems to address security concerns with node-webkit and looks promising.

Answer 18

Electron, originally Atom Shell, allows applications to be written in web technologies (HTML, JS, CSS) and run on any of the major operating systems, including Windows.