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Electron

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9.7K
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148
JavaFX

278
413
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10
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Electron vs JavaFX: What are the differences?

Key differences between Electron and JavaFX

Electron and JavaFX are both popular frameworks used for building desktop applications. While they serve a similar purpose, there are key differences between the two:

  1. Language and Development Environment: Electron primarily uses web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, making it suitable for web developers. On the other hand, JavaFX uses Java, a widely-used programming language, which provides a robust and mature development environment with a rich set of libraries and tools.

  2. Platform Compatibility: Electron allows developers to build applications that can run on Windows, macOS, and Linux platforms without significant code changes. In contrast, JavaFX applications can also be built to run on multiple platforms, but platform-specific code needs to be implemented for each platform, which could result in additional development efforts.

  3. Performance: JavaFX is known for its high-performance capabilities due to its close integration with the low-level systems. With Java's Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation and platform-specific optimizations, JavaFX applications can often achieve faster execution speeds compared to Electron applications.

  4. User Interface: Electron offers a rich selection of web-focused user interface components and styling options, making it easier to create modern and responsive interfaces. JavaFX, on the other hand, provides a wide range of native user interface controls and layout options, giving developers more control over the look and feel of their applications.

  5. Integration with Native Features: Electron allows easy integration with native features of the operating system, such as system notifications, file handlers, and automatic updates. While JavaFX also provides access to native APIs, it may require additional effort and platform-specific code to achieve similar levels of integration.

  6. Ecosystem and Community Support: Electron has a large and active community, offering a wide range of open-source plugins and libraries that extend its functionality. Its popularity in web development also means that finding resources and getting help is often easier. JavaFX, being a part of the Java ecosystem, benefits from a rich set of libraries and frameworks, and has a strong community support network.

In Summary, Electron and JavaFX differ in terms of the languages used, platform compatibility, performance, user interface options, integration with native features, and ecosystem support. Choosing between the two frameworks depends on the specific requirements, development skills, and target platform of the application.

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Pros of Electron
Pros of JavaFX
  • 69
    Easy to make rich cross platform desktop applications
  • 53
    Open source
  • 14
    Great looking apps such as Slack and Visual Studio Code
  • 8
    Because it's cross platform
  • 4
    Use Node.js in the Main Process
  • 10
    Light

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Cons of Electron
Cons of JavaFX
  • 18
    Uses a lot of memory
  • 8
    User experience never as good as a native app
  • 4
    No proper documentation
  • 4
    Does not native
  • 1
    Each app needs to install a new chromium + nodejs
  • 1
    Wrong reference for dom inspection
  • 1
    Community support less than qt
  • 1
    Complicated

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What is Electron?

With Electron, creating a desktop application for your company or idea is easy. Initially developed for GitHub's Atom editor, Electron has since been used to create applications by companies like Microsoft, Facebook, Slack, and Docker. The Electron framework lets you write cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. It is based on io.js and Chromium and is used in the Atom editor.

What is JavaFX?

It is a set of graphics and media packages that enables developers to design, create, test, debug, and deploy rich client applications that operate consistently across diverse platforms.

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What companies use Electron?
What companies use JavaFX?
See which teams inside your own company are using Electron or JavaFX.
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What are some alternatives to Electron and JavaFX?
Photon
The fastest way to build beautiful Electron apps using simple HTML and CSS. Underneath it all is Electron. Originally built for GitHub's Atom text editor, Electron is the easiest way to build cross-platform desktop applications.
React Native Desktop
Build OS X desktop apps using React Native.
React Native
React Native enables you to build world-class application experiences on native platforms using a consistent developer experience based on JavaScript and React. The focus of React Native is on developer efficiency across all the platforms you care about - learn once, write anywhere. Facebook uses React Native in multiple production apps and will continue investing in React Native.
React
Lots of people use React as the V in MVC. Since React makes no assumptions about the rest of your technology stack, it's easy to try it out on a small feature in an existing project.
pygame
It is a cross-platform set of Python modules designed for writing video games. It includes computer graphics and sound libraries designed to be used with the Python programming language.
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