docs: Update the "Electron vs NW.js" document (#22836)
* docs: Update the "Electron vs NW.js" document * Update docs/development/electron-vs-nwjs.md Co-Authored-By: Charles Kerr <ckerr@github.com> * Update docs/development/electron-vs-nwjs.md Co-Authored-By: Mark Lee <malept@users.noreply.github.com> * Update docs/development/electron-vs-nwjs.md Co-Authored-By: Mark Lee <malept@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: Charles Kerr <ckerr@github.com> Co-authored-by: Mark Lee <malept@users.noreply.github.com>
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# Technical Differences Between Electron and NW.js (formerly node-webkit)
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__Note: Electron was previously named Atom Shell.__
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Like NW.js, Electron provides a platform to write desktop applications
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with JavaScript and HTML and has Node integration to grant access to the low
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level system from web pages.
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But there are also fundamental differences between the two projects that make
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Electron a completely separate product from NW.js:
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__1. Entry of Application__
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In NW.js the main entry point of an application is a web page or a JS script. You specify a
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html or js file in the `package.json` and it is opened in a browser window as
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the application's main window (in case of an html entrypoint) or the script is executed.
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In Electron, the entry point is a JavaScript script. Instead of
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providing a URL directly, you manually create a browser window and load
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an HTML file using the API. You also need to listen to window events
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to decide when to quit the application.
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Electron works more like the Node.js runtime. Electron's APIs are lower level
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so you can use it for browser testing in place of [PhantomJS](http://phantomjs.org/).
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__2. Build System__
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In order to avoid the complexity of building all of Chromium, Electron uses [`libchromiumcontent`](https://github.com/electron/libchromiumcontent) to access
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Chromium's Content API. `libchromiumcontent` is a single shared library that
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includes the Chromium Content module and all of its dependencies. Users don't
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need a powerful machine to build Electron.
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__3. Node Integration__
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In NW.js, the Node integration in web pages requires patching Chromium to
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work, while in Electron we chose a different way to integrate the libuv loop
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with each platform's message loop to avoid hacking Chromium. See the
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[`node_bindings`][node-bindings] code for how that was done.
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__4. Multi-context__
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If you are an experienced NW.js user, you should be familiar with the
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concept of Node context and web context. These concepts were invented because
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of how NW.js was implemented.
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By using the [multi-context](https://github.com/nodejs/node-v0.x-archive/commit/756b622)
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feature of Node, Electron doesn't introduce a new JavaScript context in web
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pages.
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Note: NW.js has optionally supported multi-context since 0.13.
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[node-bindings]: https://github.com/electron/electron/tree/master/atom/common
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docs/development/electron-vs-nwjs.md
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# Technical Differences Between Electron and NW.js
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Like [NW.js][nwjs], Electron provides a platform to write desktop applications with web
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technologies. Both platforms enable developers to utilize HTML, JavaScript, and
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Node.js. On the surface, they seem very similar.
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There are however fundamental differences between the two projects that make
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Electron a completely separate product from NW.js.
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## 1) Entry of Application
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In NW.js, the main entry point of an application can be an HTML web page. In
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that case, NW.js will open the given entry point in a browser window.
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In Electron, the entry point is always a JavaScript script. Instead of providing a
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URL directly, you manually create a browser window and load an HTML file using
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the API. You also need to listen to window events to decide when to quit the
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application.
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Electron works more like the Node.js runtime. Electron's APIs are lower level so
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you can use it for browser testing in place of
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[PhantomJS](http://phantomjs.org/).
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## 2) Node Integration
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In NW.js, the Node integration in web pages requires patching Chromium to work,
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while in Electron we chose a different way to integrate the `libuv` loop with
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each platform's message loop to avoid hacking Chromium. See the
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[`node_bindings`][node-bindings] code for how that was done.
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## 3) JavaScript Contexts
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If you are an experienced NW.js user, you should be familiar with the concept of
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Node context and web context. These concepts were invented because of how NW.js
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was implemented.
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By using the
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[multi-context](https://github.com/nodejs/node-v0.x-archive/commit/756b622)
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feature of Node, Electron doesn't introduce a new JavaScript context in web
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pages.
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Note: NW.js has optionally supported multi-context since 0.13.
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## 4) Legacy Support
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NW.js still offers a "legacy release" that supports Windows XP. It doesn't
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receive security updates.
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Given that hardware manufacturers, Microsoft, Chromium, and Node.js haven't
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released even critical security updates for that system, we have to warn you
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that using Windows XP is wildly insecure and outright irresponsible.
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However, we understand that requirements outside our wildest imagination may
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exist, so if you're looking for something like Electron that runs on Windows XP,
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the NW.js legacy release might be the right fit for you.
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## 5) Features
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There are numerous differences in the amount of supported features. Electron has
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a bigger community, more production apps using it, and [a large amount of
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userland modules available on npm][electron-modules].
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As an example, Electron has built-in support for automatic updates and countless
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tools that make the creation of installers easier. As an example in favor of
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NW.js, NW.js supports more `Chrome.*` APIs for the development of Chrome Apps.
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Naturally, we believe that Electron is the better platform for polished
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production applications built with web technologies (like Visual Studio Code,
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Slack, or Facebook Messenger); however, we want to be fair to our web technology
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friends. If you have feature needs that Electron does not meet, you might want
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to try NW.js.
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[nwjs]: https://nwjs.io/
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[electron-modules]: https://www.npmjs.com/search?q=electron
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[node-bindings]: https://github.com/electron/electron/tree/master/lib/common
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