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Best Code Editors For Web Development – The Ultimate Latest List

There are almost 26.4 million software developers in the world. Their demand is increasing dramatically due to the rapid digitalization and dependency on digital channels for doing businesses. 

Due to the immense pressure and demand of the software, developers become more dependent upon tools to complete software development adequately. 

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How can you make correct decisions involving data? This is a question you might be asking yourself every day. You no longer have to worry about this because data lineage is the answer. It enables individuals to visualize, record, and analyze data. 

For data lineage to be successful, it is vital to ensure that you use suitable techniques. You should also be aware of the source of this data. This process is achievable today due to modern technological advancements. 

Several details will help you to understand data lineage in 2022.

Benefits of Data Lineage

It Allows Businesses to Track Data

Data traceability can take business ventures countless hours. In criteria where traceability is wrong, the business will suffer dire consequences. These consequences include penalties and fines. Traceability is crucial as it allows businesses to adhere to regulations.

Courtesy of data lineage, organizations can track data flow from various sources. Lineage tracks data as it flows via different systems as well. Therefore, it is easier for businesses to conduct risk management with data lineage.

It Enables Businesses to Understand and Trust Data

Data lineage in businesses allows a better comprehension of data. It highlights various aspects of data, including the source and destination of the data. Also, it shows various systems that data passes through before reaching its destination. 

Data lineage shows how the data is built and the transformations it has gone through over time. This information is crucial as it gives business insights into various aspects. Therefore, the business can determine if its data is trustworthy and accurate. Data lineage allows business ventures to make well-informed data decisions involving data.

It Allows Businesses to Identify Downstream System Changes

The IT department in businesses can conduct data analysis using data lineage. Through this analysis, the business can identify any change in downstream systems. These changes usually arise when there is a change in data. 

Failure to identify these changes causes the enterprise to face tremendous losses. Data lineage is instrumental because it saves the IT team time by eliminating manual analysis.

It Allows Strategic Data Reliance in Business

If you want to run your business successfully, you must have reliable data. All businesses, including sales, management, and manufacturing, rely on data. The information a business collects during research improves organizational systems. 

Improving organization systems enables the business to provide top-notch services and products. Data lineage provides detailed information that the business needs to understand data validity.

What Are the Techniques of Data Lineage?

Lineage by Parsing

Lineage by Parsing is an advanced form of data lineage techniques. This technique relies on using logic to read processed data. With this technique, you can reverse engineer data transformation logic. 

It enables the achievement of end-to-end tracing. The technique is complex because it uses all tools and programming languages, allowing for the movement and transformation of data.

Pattern-Based Lineage

The technique is ideal because it eliminates the use of code in data transformation. It evaluates metadata for business reports, columns, and tables. Pattern-based lineage uses metadata to investigate lineage through identifying patterns.

For instance, this technique links two data sets with similar data values and names in a data lineage chart.

The pattern-based technique is preferable because it uses agnostic technology – this means that it monitors data only. Also, you can use this pattern in various database technologies such as Spark, MySQL, and Oracle. In situations where data processing logic is unclear, this technique might be inaccurate.

Lineage by Data Tagging

Data tagging involves tracking tags from start to finish. It would be best to have a dependable transformation tool that manages data movement for this method to work. The downside of this technique is that it is impossible to conduct a lineage of data that has not been generated by this tool. That is why lineage by data tagging is only applicable in closed data systems.

Self-Contained Lineage

Self-contained lineage is instrumental in organizations because it provides master data management. It provides processing logic and storage as well. Further, it stores data through every step. This technique is unique because it can provide data lineage without external tools. The downside of self-contained lineage is that it can only work within this environment.

Closing Thoughts

For the success of an enterprise today, accurate data-driven decisions are crucial. Nowadays, you can understand data using data lineage because of modern technology. There are several data lineage techniques that business ventures should consider.

What else to read?

Before initiating a new web project, selecting the proper web app architecture is critical for a project’s tech success. Your choice will determine how its elements and functionality will interact and the further logic of creating the application. 

In this post, I’ll explain what stands behind web application architecture, its working principles, the technologies required, and what types are there.  

Understanding the Concepts: What Web Application Architecture Is and How It Works

Web application architecture stands for a network of multiple components such as user interfaces, transaction processing, databases, and others. The main objective is to ensure that all interconnected elements operate correctly. All these components represent web application software structure.

But how do these elements work, and what are their functions? Let’s cover their synergy naming all the specificities of this process.

Web application architecture defines the networking between applications,  middleware systems, and databases so that several apps perform in tandem. For example, when a user types a website URL into a browser and hints ‘enter’, the server obtains a request from the browser. The server processes the input data and shows the needed web page. Most high-performance platforms with a modern website application structure carry out this process almost instantly, as no user wants to experience a time-intensive page loading. It’s worth mentioning that the script scrutinized by the browser may or may not have specific directions for the browser on how to react to a wide array of inputs. Hence, website app architecture entails utter sub-elements and external interchanges for the complete solution.

As for the working principles, system architecture for a web application comprises two parts operating simultaneously: client-side (frontend) and server-side (backend): 

  • Frontend stands for the visual part of the application visible for users. The client-side reacts to the users’ actions. The tech stack required: CSS, Javascript, HTML, etc.
  • The server-side handles apps’ business logic and processes HTTP requests. A backend side creation includes the following languages: PHP, C#, Java, Python, Javascript, etc.

For instance, when entering your credentials to register on a platform, you interact with the user-side. The backend is processing your data before access is provided. These two sides represent a web application architecture. 

The web app development flow determines the tasks the script performs according to the actions required to be made by the code. 

Layers of Web App Architecture

Now, let’s look at the typical layers of website application architecture.

Presentation layer

PL shows the user interface and makes user interaction more straightforward. It contains UI components that handle and display information for users. There are also user process elements that set up user interactions. PL gives all the needed data to the front end. Its objective is to receive input data, process users’ queries, transfer them to data service, and display the results.

Business logic layer

This layer is in charge of correct data exchange. BLL identifies the logic for business processes and rules. Logging in the platform is a sample of a business logic layer. Business logic layer is also called Domain Logic or Application Layer, which fulfills the processing of clients’ requests from the browser and points the ways of access to this information.

Data service layer

DSL transfers data operated by the Business logic layer to the Presentation layer. By sending the information processes by BLL to the Presentation layer, DSL defends the data of application web architecture by separating business logic from the user-side.

Data access layer

DAL facilitates access to data saved in persistent storages (e.g., binary XML file, etc.). This layer also processes CRUD operations: create, read, update, delete.   It is also called the persistence layer or storage, merged with the business layer. This way, the logic understands which database to apply to and streamlines the information received.

How to Create Web App Architecture 

Now, let’s briefly discuss the best solutions for web app structure designing. 

Web application architecture is composed of application components, middleware systems, and databases. In turn, app components divide into UI/UX components and structural ones. UI/UX web app structure components comprise dashboards, statistical data, layouts, notification elements, etc. These components are responsible for the external web page look and establish the base for customers’ interaction. Structural components relate to web app server architecture and the database server.

Here are the top three technologies for web app architecture development:

Java

Java takes first place among the most popular technologies for building architecture for web apps. Its web app structure design offers a wealth of Java-based instruments. Therefore, this language can be applied to any scale app architecture since it allows for building a reliable and flexible structure for the long-term run.

Python

Python is another widely used technology for web app architecture designing. Its script is made for server-side scripting. This tool is a good option for web developers who have recently started scripting with Python or are developing web apps architecture for the first time. Besides, Python provides various instruments for ongoing web application architecture support. Thanks to its motion nature and shortcodes, this tool is applicable for making prototypes. Furthermore, several Python frameworks can be employed for designing web app structures from scratch or merging different programming languages in one project.

Node.js

Node.js is a technology solution offering to create web app software architecture that relies on model-view patterns, entailing MVC (model-view-controller), MVVM (model-view-view-model), and MVP (model-view-presenter). The capabilities of its advanced web app architecture patterns comprise script elements defining, configuration, and direction. In addition, Node.js employs an entity-relationship model of web project architecture diagram for data and script forming, breaking logic by modules, and deriving valuable insight from logs to guarantee the correctness of web app architecture development.

5 Types of Web App Architecture 

Web app architecture types vary depending on app logic distribution ways among the user-side and server-side. Let’s discuss the details of each type.

Single-Page App (SPA)

Single-page apps imply a website platform that displays all the required data when a user opens the page. The core advantage of SPAs is that no web pages are reloading. Traditionally,  single-page solutions are built under Java web app architecture design. Besides, many of its frameworks (e.g., Angular, React) are helpful for creating web app architecture of this type. The most prominent examples of SPAs are Slack, Facebook, and Gmail.

Multi-Page App (MPA)

Multi-page apps work great for large-scale website solutions like Amazon. MPAs solutions reload a web page to load or transfer data from/to a server via the clients’ browsers. eBay and Amazon are the most significant examples of MPAs.

Serverless Architecture

This type of architecture makes programmers utilize a cloud web application infrastructure from 3rd party providers like Amazon and Microsoft. To maintain web app network architecture on the Internet, programmers should direct server infrastructure, an operating system, and other server-related hosting operations. For instance, Amazon and Microsoft provide virtual servers that dynamically handle the distribution of machine reserves. This way, your web app will be able to cope with massive traffic spikes without performance failure.

Microservices Architecture

Microservices architecture allows software engineers to design a web application from a group of small services (unlike the monolithic option, which implies rewriting the whole code in case of one component change). Then, programmers can create and deploy each element separately. For example,  a microservice approach is widely used in social networking website development since such platforms contain multiple elements developers should interact with. Netflix, PayPal, and Spotify illustrate the microservices architecture logic.

Isomorphic Web Apps

An isomorphic type is an innovative approach to designing web application architecture. It stands for a JavaScript solution that can be employed both to the front and backend sides. First, the client loads an HTML, where the JavaScript app is transferred to the browser; then, the process is similar to the SPA logic.

Summing Up

The qualitative website application architecture will let you scale, modify, test, and debug your future web project along with efficient development process management.

Thank you to our guest author Yuliya Melnik! She is a technical writer at Cleveroad, a web and mobile app development company in Ukraine. She is passionate about innovative technologies that make the world a better place and loves creating content that evokes vivid emotions.

What else to read?

React Native gives developers the ability to build complex, cross-platform mobile apps using only JavaScript and the React framework. As a result, developers have had to create tools and libraries to fill in gaps that would otherwise be filled by native components. Here are seven of the best React Native component libraries available today, as well as some resources to help you learn more about them and create your own app with them in the future.

NativeBase

Some like it simple and minimal. If that’s what you want for your apps, then consider checking out NativeBase . This is a lightweight library with no external dependencies which provides all basic components needed to create an app: from generic ones like Text and View to more specialized ones, such as FlipSwitch toggle. It offers a lot of optional customizations and benefits of using native UI components over web or hybrid counterparts.

Quasar Framework

A component library for React Native that lets you build iOS and Android apps using a familiar web development language—HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Since Quasar uses native components directly instead of web wrappers, it supports all of the platform’s gestures and controls, including iOS-specific ones like swipe to delete. This means your app will be consistent across both platforms from start to finish.

Mobile UI

HNUIAppleBackgoundView and UIImageView ( iOS ) have recently been deprecated in favor of a cross-platform mobile component library, react-native-elements. This project is an open source library designed to make it easier to build beautiful and functional native mobile apps using familiar web concepts. There are already countless resources online detailing how to implement each component for Android or iOS, so I will be focusing on styling instead of implementation details.

Pickadate.js

For an elegant and simple calendar picker, check out Pickadate.js. With a wide range of options for customization, pickadate is a powerful addition to any React app. It’s easy to use, lightweight, has both ios and android support, and supports gestures! You can even use it without a bundler!

Flatpickr.js

Flatpickr is a lightweight, mobile-ready, dependency-free library for displaying and using dates and times in flat styled interface. With Flatpickr.js we can easily add a date and time picker to any form, table or other input. It’s really simple to use, just call our new Flatpickr constructor with an id of your choice and that’s it!

Ant Design – Web Components Library

Ant Design is an open source component library for React that provides native UI components and a design language. It’s relatively new (it launched at GitHub Universe in 2017), but it’s made quite a name for itself, having earned over 8,000 stars on GitHub. It has over 160 components (for things like buttons, toggles, tooltips, cards and more) with native functionality that works on both Android and iOS. And its style guide makes it easy to build apps with consistent design across platforms.

Mobiscroll

It’s an industry-leading UI component library with a wide range of functionalities. It comes with intuitive, customizable components and extensive documentation, which is sure to come in handy for newcomers. Mobiscroll supports mobiles and tablets that use iOS, Android, or Windows operating systems. Its current version is 2.0, and it was last updated in November 2017. The open-source license ensures developers are free to modify it as they see fit.

If you enjoy such kinds of lists you can also be interested in our following blog post:

If you are looking for React Native content check one of this posts:

The internet has come far in the 40 years since its inception. More than 5.2 billion active daily users are now visiting close to 2 billion websites. Website development trends have shifted and evolved immensely throughout the decades, and the most successful websites have always been able to stay on top of the emerging changes.

Failure to keep up with new developments could lead to poorer website performance and decreased user experience. This will inevitably cause your users to shift to competitor websites.

If you wish to remain competitive in any business niche in 2022, you’ll need to build and run your website according to the ongoing trends. That’s why we have decided to talk to the best website development consultants out there and give you the top web development trends to look out for in 2022.

You might find that most of the trends outlined in this article have been around for a while. That said, we expect the following 8 trends to become much more widespread in 2022 and the following years. Let’s take a look at each one in no particular order.

Progressive Web Apps (PWA)

PWAs are a great example of just what we discussed above — a trend that is by no means new to 2022 but one that we expect to achieve its full potential this year. 

Progressive web apps will slowly replace regular web apps in the years to come, helping websites load quicker and bringing a wide range of other benefits such as working offline, seamless maintenance, and reduced development costs.

[Source: CleverTap]

Some of the biggest companies in the world, including Google, Twitter, Pinterest, Uber, Starbucks, and others, have already decided to offer their customers a better user experience by switching to PWAs.

We don’t need to tell you that mobile devices have played an increasingly important role in global internet traffic, reaching a whopping 54.4% in 2021. 

With an increase in the usage of tablets and smartphones for online tasks of all sorts, revamping web applications into PWAs is becoming essential.

Chatbots

Another trend that has been around for a few years is chatbots. Still, in 2022, we expect them to fully evolve, not only meeting the users’ support needs but understanding the consumers’ behavior through information retrieval, language processing, and machine learning.

Aside from helping companies improve the speed of various operations through text and voice chats, AI chatbots will make the customer experience significantly better. 

Chatbots will provide prospects and customers with an increasingly seamless digital experience on most websites in the future by collecting data, answering FAQs, and solving a slew of other issues.

[Source: Blue Corona]

The most prominent B2C organizations already use AI chatbots to serve their customers better. According to Forbes, the use of AI in marketing increased by an impressive 190% from 2018 to 2020 alone.

Chatbots are also expanding their area of influence beyond company websites. They can now be seen in increasing numbers on social media platforms and chatting apps like Skype, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and LinkedIn.

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

Google launched accelerated mobile pages (AMPs) in 2015 to help websites offer their mobile users a faster digital experience. Aside from decreasing bounce rates and providing more streamlined user experiences, AMPs can help improve businesses’ core metrics.

Unlike the other technologies we’ve talked about in this article so far, AMP usage has been in a slight downtrend over the past couple of years. However, it is still the most popular mobile technology globally.

AMPs are currently used on 32% of mobile websites, including more than 50% of the most popular websites on the internet.

Single-Page Apps (SPAs)

Single-page applications are rightfully considered one of the most critical recent web development trends. These web applications based on JavaScript can dynamically update content within a single HTML page without refreshing.

[Source: Third Rock Techkno]

This technology has been widely adopted not only by some of the biggest companies in the world, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google but the web development community as a whole.

The popular AngularJS framework makes SPAs relatively easy to create and highly cost-effective, consuming less server space. 

On top of that, they can provide users with information effectively within a single page, so the user experience is improved significantly. Looking at these benefits, it is evident that SPAs are a win-win for site visitors and developers alike.

Voice-Search Optimization

Since its introduction in 2011, Google’s voice search has steadily grown in popularity. This technology has since been used in a wide range of smart virtual assistants, such as Cortana, Siri, and Alexa, with unprecedented success.

A Grand View Research analysis predicts the virtual assistant market to keep expanding with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28.5% from 2021 to 2028.

The tech giants of Silicon Valley have all entered this market in recent years, creating products like Apple HomePod and Google Home to meet the increased customer demand. 

Juniper Research pegs more than 55% of all global households to have a voice assistant by the end of 2022. These numbers make it easy to see why voice-search optimization has never been more relevant.

[Source: Grand View Research]

Of course, not only consumers with smart speakers conduct voice searches — this technology was first introduced on smartphones, after all. Smartphones and IoT devices are used for a significant portion of voice searches in 2022.

As a result of this widespread use and availability of the technology, we can expect voice-search optimized results to start ranking higher on SERPs. For this reason, we predict companies will put more work into optimizing their products and content strategies for voice search in 2022 and beyond.

WordPress Development

WordPress currently powers 43.2% of all websites, so it’s fair to say that it has a strong presence on the global internet. As an open-source platform, it is also notable for continuously adding features to meet the needs of its users.

This year, we will see some big changes in the operation of the CMS, most notably the arrival of Full Site editing. This functionality will extend block editing to the entire site, rather than just pages and posts.

[Source: Isotropic Design]

With one of the biggest changes to theming in the open-source project’s history, 2022 could be a pivotal year for WordPress. The change is scheduled for introduction in v5.9 and will most certainly lead to some major changes in how websites are built and managed through WordPress in the future.

Motion UI

Not only do consumers today expect more mobile-friendly and faster websites— but they also want the experience to be more interactive and richer overall. This has been the primary reason for the rising popularity of Motion UI.

[Source: Zurb]

This front-end framework lets developers build entirely responsive mobile apps and websites and use predefined motions within a native setting. Using plain English, this framework allows you to make elements transition, bounce, spin, slide, etc.

Thanks to its compatibility with a wide range of web technologies, Motion UI can be used in menus, footers, headers, or pretty much anywhere else on a website. It is not an entirely new invention either — it has been widely used since 2018.

That said, this SaaS library is becoming more accessible thanks to its underlying technology, and we expect it to become one of the most prevalent web development trends in 2022 and beyond.

Enhanced Cybersecurity

Securing computers, networks, and information from misuse has always been a critical concern, and that is not about to change in 2022. Cybersecurity will remain crucial to all companies, no matter their size.

Even the most prominent industry giants are vulnerable to cyberattacks. For instance, hackers managed to scrape some 700 million LinkedIn accounts in June 2021, acquiring the users’ personal info, including their emails and phone numbers.

Cloudflare, a content delivery network provider, reports that distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are becoming increasingly common. A DDoS attack could keep a website down for hours, not only damaging a business’s reputation but causing significant losses in terms of revenue.

[Source: Cloudflare]

With the alarming increase in cybercrime over the past couple of years, website developers have been forced to adapt, making customer and company data more secure. 

More and more businesses are shifting toward app-based two-factor authentication, using Security Operation Centers and tools like Google Authenticator.

We can expect a continuing effort to improve cybersecurity through non-traditional methods beyond analytics checkpoints and monitoring tools. 

Humans will need to remain a part of this process for the foreseeable future, as session recordings are an invaluable resource in identifying security issues like extreme bot traffic and DDoS attacks.

Wrapping Up

Web development keeps changing to meet the ever-increasing needs of internet users and the market at large. Many of the trends we outlined above focus on security and optimizing the mobile user experience.

In the future, we might see other trends focusing on optimizing smart wearable device UIs, or improving the user experience of VR headsets. 

One thing is certain — keeping up with main trends in web development is essential to making sure your website can consistently attract and delight its visitors.

What else to read?

Living in the age of information overload, it’s hard not to become overwhelmed by myriads of front-end and back-end development courses found on the web.

So as not to let you stumble upon, we’ve carefully selected the best courses that offer only relevant and actual knowledge on the topic. Each of them is the result of tight cooperation between industry experts and world-renowned universities. 

If you are thinking about starting a career path either as a front-end or back-end developer, this roundup is for you. 

Front-end development courses

Introduction to web development 

by the University of California, Davis on Coursera

This course is often recommended as the best for complete beginners but it also helps to refresh basic knowledge of experienced developers. This course presents an excellent start for everyone who is eager to become a web developer and doesn’t know where to start.

With the course, you’ll get a profound understanding of how websites work, how they are built, how browsers and devices interact with the web. As for practical skills, you’ll learn how to create dynamic web pages, get familiar with programming language concepts, and deploy your first website. 

Prerequisites: you can enroll in this course without any previous experience in programming or web development. 

It takes around 16 hours to finish the course. We are sure it will prepare you for future challenges of more advanced web development. Give it a try!

Front-End Web Development with React

by The Hongkong University of Science and Technology on Coursera

This course is a part of Full-Stack Web Development with React specialization. As the name implies, it’s dedicated to building front-end applications with the help of the React library. As the course progresses, you’ll get the idea of creating responsive UI design with Reactstrap, grasp basic React concepts, learn about Flux architecture, Redux, client-server communication, REST API and how to use React router in SPAs (single-page apps). 

Prerequisites: solid knowledge of Bootstrap 4, JavaScript and ES5 are recommended.

It takes around 32 hours to finish the course. 

As a result, you’ll be comfortable with both creating responsive React-Redux apps and designing its architecture.

Multiplatform Mobile App Development with React Native

by The Hongkong University of Science and Technology on Coursera

Are you more interested in developing mobile apps? Then you should pay close attention to this React Native course. This is another course of the same specialization but focused mainly on developing cross-platform iOS and Android apps with React Native, Redux and the Expo SDK.

Prerequisites: basic knowledge of programming concepts, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. No previous competence of React is required. 

It takes 27 hours to complete the course. 

As a result, you’ll know how to build multiplatform applications, use React Native, Expo SDK, and Redux. 

Try this course to acquire and master your React and JavaScript skills!

Single Page Web Applications with AngularJS 

by Johns Hopkins University on Coursera

If you prefer AngularJS to React, we have something for you. During this course, you’ll deepen your knowledge of the following concepts: dependency injection for reusing existing services, writing own services, creating reusable HTML components with AngularJS data binding and extending HTML syntax with directives. Plus, you’ll learn about routing for multiple views and performing unit-testing. As a final project, you’ll build a well-structured and tested web app and deploy it to the cloud. 

Prerequisites: only a good understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is required. 

It takes 37 hours to complete the course. 

Web development on Experts Exchange

by Experts Exchange

Web development includes all aspects of presenting content on intranets and the Internet, including delivery development, protocols, languages and standards, server software, browser clients, databases and multimedia generation.

Experts-Exchange provides articles, courses, videos and forums for all web development related aspects. Courses range from basic to intermediate levels and include training courses to prepare participants for exams.

Prerequisites: you are required to know programming in general all the basics and more advanced information you will find there.


Server-side development courses

Let’s proceed to server-side development now. 

Server-side Development with NodeJS, Express, and MongoDB 

by The Hongkong University of Science and Technology on Coursera

This excellent course focuses on server-side aspects of web development. You’ll get the idea of web protocols (HTTP and HTTPS), NodeJS modules, CRUD operations, NoSQL databases (namely MongoDB and Mongoose), REST concepts, and Backend as a Service approaches. 

Prerequisites: all you need to know is basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. 

In total, it requires around 4 weeks of intensive study to complete the course.

As a result, you’ll be proficient at configuring the backend server using NodeJS, building a RESTful API from it and handling authentication and security. 

Building Web Applications in PHP 

by the University of Michigan on Coursera

Are you fond of PHP? Then you’ll like this course. During this time, you’ll learn about the basic structure of a web app, request and response cycles, HTML, CSS, syntax and data structures of PHP. The course covers also concepts of error handling and superglobal variables. 

Prerequisites: you are required to know programming in general (in any language). It’s also recommended to take the Web Design for Everybody specialization before starting. 

It takes approximately 19 hours to finish the course. 

By the end of the course, you’ll develop the practical skills of installing PHP and MySQL environments like MAMP or XAMPP and create an application that is perfect to be added to your portfolio.

Responsive Web Design Certification 

by freeCodeCamp

When it comes to development, it’s hard to find better courses than on freeCodeCamp. Here you can gain knowledge in various areas and connect with the developers’ community on the Forum.

Besides, all the courses are completely free for everyone.

We’d like to draw your attention to Responsive Web Design Certification. To complete the entire certification, it takes approximately 300 hours. Yes, it’s a lot of work but that’s worth it. It’s the most comprehensive web development course we could find. Here you’ll get everything to kick-start a career in front-end development. 

The course covers all the concepts of basic HTML and HTML5, CSS, Applied Visual Design, Applied Accessibility, Responsive Web Design principles, CSS Flexbox, CSS Grid. As a result, you can put your knowledge into practice by creating an educational project on a given topic.

Foundations of Front-End Web Development 

by Udemy

This course will help you to lay the ground for web development as well. You’ll walk through the major concepts of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and jQuery. You’ll even get a chance to master Backbone.js. 

Prerequisites: no previous knowledge of the topics is required. 

After the completion, you’ll get enough knowledge to become a junior front-end developer. It will be easier for you to approach any resources on web development.

Web Application Development with JavaScript and MongoDB 

by Goldsmiths, the University of London on Coursera

This course is a part of the Responsive Website Development specialization and aimed at developing skills in advanced web application programming: building, testing, and deploying mobile-ready web applications from the bottom upwards. 

It’s often completed by entrepreneurs, software engineers, data engineers, and technical support associates. During the course, you’ll learn how to control data read and write access, access the database, and use the SimpleSchema system. Besides, you’ll get acquainted with TextCircle – a collaborative code editing environment. 

To consolidate what has been learned, you’ll dive into various programming assignments, theoretical and practical quizzes. In the final module, you’ll develop an application using Meteor folders.

Prerequisites: as background knowledge, it’s assumed that you have basic programming skills and basic ideas of ICT concepts.  

It takes approximately 19 hours to complete the course. But that’s not a strict requirement – feel free to work at your own pace. 


More about web development

If you can’t decide on a framework for your application, dive into this overview of the best front-end frameworks in 2019.

If you are searching for more tutorials and courses for web development, try GitConnected. The main advantage of this resource is that there are plenty of articles and courses collected in a single place. You can filter them by category and choose your perfect match.

What else to read?

The world of smartphones has been on the rising trend for quite some time now. The advent of IoT further promised to make things more convenient with connected living. So now, smartphones are no longer devices to make and receive calls; they have become a lifestyle now.

Along with the rising trend of smartphones came the need for mobile apps to make every task easy, ordering groceries or connecting home appliances. Statistically speaking, as reported by Statista, there were 7.9 million apps downloaded from the App Store and a whopping 28 billion apps downloaded from the PlayStore in Q2 of 2021 alone.

These stats have been highly encouraging for software development companies to develop applications for businesses from every sector, banking, entertainment, or e-commerce. But when it comes to developing mobile applications, there are two most prominent platforms in terms of the user base – Android by Google and iOS by Apple.

That being the perfect buildup to the growing need for mobile app development, let’s move ahead and talk more about the various mobile app development tools for both iOS and Android.

Mobile App Development Tools for iOS

Xcode

Xcode is Apple’s official IDE for developing macOS, iOS, iPad, watchOS, and tvOS. In addition, it is an excellent alternative for app development because it allows you to publish your app on the Apple App Store.

For creating an iOS application, Xcode includes a text editor, a compiler, and a build system. It also aids iOS app developers in writing, developing, debugging, and publishing their apps.

Advantages

  • Without making a single line of code, developers can create and test a graphical user interface. 
  • Build, install, launch, and debug apps on a Mac-based Simulator using the iOS SDK. 
  • The ‘Help’ section is very extensive and helpful.

Transporter

The Transporter tool assists developers in uploading the content to Apple directly. So, as a developer, you can send apps, music, TV shows and movies, or books to Apple’s many platforms seamlessly.

Your material can be distributed through Apple Books, Apple Music, or iTunes Store. You will, however, need an account with App Store Connect, iTunes Connect, or an encoding house.

Advantages

  • Drag and drop function to move the content to Transporter.
  • It is straightforward to upload many files at once to quickly deliver.
  • Validation warnings and delivery logs can be used to track delivery progress and resolve concerns quickly.
  • Get a list of previous delivery, including the date and time.

AppCode

Apple developers use the AppCode IDE tool to create iOS mobile apps in various programming languages, including Swift, Objective-C, C, and C++. As a developer, you can easily automate standard processes such as mistake detection and correction.

AppCode is an intelligent IDE that simplifies code management duties, allowing developers to save more time. The IntelliJ IDEA platform serves as the foundation for AppCode. It is used to install plug-ins or to create custom plug-ins.

Advantages

  • It supports JavaScript, XML, HTML, and CSS, making it a one-stop solution for various programming languages.
  • Assists in producing clean codes and analyzing your context and project with intelligent code assistance.
  • It has built-in tools to run, test, and debug the app.

CocoaPods

CocoaPods is a dependency manager for the projects made on Xcode. It has over 83k libraries and has been used in over 3 million apps. This makes it suitable for third-party library integration.

A single text file, called a Podfile, contains all of a project’s dependencies. CocoaPods can assist developers in resolving library requirements and obtaining the source code. It will then link it all together in an Xcode workspace to make an iOS app.

Advantages

  • It has third-party code distribution and integration into app projects using a source-based approach.
  • It helps in the resolution of library dependencies.
  • It has easy integration and administration of third-party libraries.

Simulator

When developing an app, iOS developers use Simulator to prototype and test their mobile applications for the Apple mobile operating system. It is included in the Xcode installation tools too to simulate iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV environments on Mac. 

The simulation environment is a hybrid of simulated hardware and a software version, each with its own set of parameters and data. These settings and files will be present on each iOS device that is evaluated in a simulation environment to speed up the interaction process.

Advantage

  • Allows the use of pointer and keyboard to interact with iOS, watchOS, and tvOS.
  • Aids in the prototyping and debugging of apps.
  • It is simple to improve the graphics of a mobile app.
  • Before releasing your apps on the Apple App Store, make sure they are up to snuff.

Swift Programming Language

Swift is an Apple core programming language first introduced back in 2014. It has some highly powerful advanced capabilities, especially when comparing it to other languages, like C, C++, and Java. Swift was created to make coding easier for both reading and writing.

Swift will indeed become the primary programming language for Apple in the future. According to Apple itself, it is also 2.6 times faster than Objective C. It is an excellent idea to learn and master it.

Advantages

  • It has an advanced control flow.
  • It is a type-safe and memory-safe language.
  • Memory management is automated.
  • The error-handling works efficiently.
  • Functional programming.
  • Inferred type is supported.

CodeRunner

CodeRunner is very useful for iOS app developers because of its ability to compile code. It can be used to develop robust and dynamic apps. It is a lightweight programming language that supports 25 languages to ease developers’ jobs all over the world.

It has a built-in console, a powerful text editor, and a customizable key binding. As a result, developers can check for problems in real-time and design more efficient codes without interfering with the actual app coding. AppX, PhoneGap, AppCode, and Fabric are some effective CodeRunner alternatives developers also consider.

Advantages

  • It enables the completion of advanced code.
  • Developers can use any language to run codes. 
  • It offers to debug with breakpoints.

Best Mobile App Development Tools for Android

Buddy

Buddy offers a very seamless and changeset-based deployment. App deployment with automation is now easier than ever, thanks to an extensive range of specific, pre-configured actions and services. Buddy is the best choice if developers seek a solution that will build, test, sign, and publish your Google Android app with a single click.

Advantages

  • There are almost 100 actions.
  • UI/UX is simple and easy to use.
  • Has React Native, Ionic, Flutter, and other dedicated Android actions.
  • Integrates seamlessly with Google, AWS, DigitalOcean, WordPress, and Azure.
  • All popular languages and task managers can be used seamlessly.

GeneXus

GeneXus is a one-of-a-kind platform that collects the users’ needs and develops applications for current and future technologies. It does all of these without requiring new technical knowledge. It allows pragmatic developers to adjust swiftly in response to market and technology changes.

Advantages

  • Automatic software generation based on artificial intelligence.
  • Enables to create once and deploy across multiple platforms.
  • It has the most significant number of databases that are supported in the market.
  • Integrated BPM modeling enables digital process automation.
  • It allows the deployment of apps on-premises, in the cloud, or a hybrid infrastructure.
  • It includes a security module for the application.

Kobiton

Continuous testing and mobile/IoT DevOps are now a reality thanks to Kobiton. It helps prevent bugs before releasing code to testing, improve your mobile app or website with performance, functional, and Visual test automation, and quickly deploy and kick off tests with seamless CI/CD connections.

Advantages

  • It offers Cloud-ify local devices for remote access by testing on real devices in the cloud.
  • Integrates with Jenkins, Travis CI, CircleCI, and other continuous integration tools. 
  • Both scripted and scriptless testing of functional, performance, and visual.
  • Commercial scalability with a policy of unlimited users.
  • For quick debugging, it offers access to real devices within your IDE.

Android Studio

As the officially integrated development infrastructure for all Android applications, Android Studio appears to be at the top of developers’ favored tools list. Google launched it in the year 2013. It was an excellent replacement for the Android Development Tools (ADT) as the leading IDE for native Android app development.

Android Studio has a straightforward drag-and-drop interface that includes everything, from code editing, debugging, to testing capabilities. Also, it is available for free download and is maintained by a vast and active community of Android developers and Google.

Advantages

  • Easy and seamless drag-and-drop interface.
  • A big active community maintains it.
  • Is well-embraced by developers of all scales and sectors.

Fabric

Fabric is the platform that hosts the Twitter’s mobile app, which itself proves its massive distinction. It allows developers to create better mobile applications by offering them a massive collection of kits that they can choose from. Everything, from beta-testing to marketing and promotion tools, is included in these kits. 

Google acquired the fabric from Twitter in January of 2017. In addition, Spotify, Uber, Groupon, Yelp, Square, and other well-known companies have used Fabric to create mobile apps.

Advantages

  • Massive collection of kits for developers.
  • Kit includes beta testing, promotion, and marketing.
  • Powers popular apps across the globe.

Android Debug Bridge (ADB)

The Android Debug Bridge is included in the Android Studio. It is a command-line tool or bridge for communication between Android devices and other development PC that can be used during development process, along with the the overall debugging and QA process.

Developers can make changes to both devices by connecting an Android device to the development PC and issuing a series of terminal commands.

Advantages

  • It is a command-line tool to bridge communication between Android smartphones and devices.
  • It can be used during the debugging and QA process of the development phase.
  • Enables easy changes in both Android devices by issuing terminal commands through a connected development PC.

NimbleDroid

NimbleDroid is a testing platform for Android apps. It is built to allow you to check for memory leaks, bugs, and other issues before publishing the apps on the Android store (Google Play store). In addition, the development tool allows developers to save time and speed up the QA process with various functionalities. This allows them to get their apps to market in a brief period.

NimbleDroid has a wide use case used by Yahoo, Mozilla, and Pinterest. These popular entities used the tool to test their applications. The developers can get customized pricing based on their demands and the number of users.

Advantages

  • Enables checking for bugs, memory leaks, and many other issues before the final publishing.
  • It helps to save time in the QA process.
  • Used by a considerable number of globally renowned brands for their app development.

Benefits of Android App Development

  • Higher ROI

The Android SDK is easily available, and this is one of the main benefits of Android app development. Development teams can use the design from these SDKs to create interactive apps. However, for app distribution, developers must pay a one-time registration fee.

After that, target beta testers can test the product for their smartphones or any computer device, ensuring minimum investment and enhanced user involvement. As a result, end-users benefit from an interactive app, while the company sees a more significant return on investment.

  • Multiple Platform Target

Since the software is scripted on Java, it can be ported to various operating systems, including Symbian and Ubuntu. As a result, businesses use Android app development to target multiple platforms.

Kotlin is designated as an official language (or a substitute for Java) for Android development by Google. Kotlin Multiplatform can be used to create apps both on iOS and Android. Leading technology and development firms, such as Pivotal and Atlassian, as well as industry leaders like Uber, Pinterest, and Evernote, use Kotlin for their Android solutions.

  • Good Security

Android P had a number of new and built-in security features. As a result, it is excellent for the prevention of malware and viruses. So, Android application development offers remarkable security and dependability.

  • Fast Deployment

The development cycle for Android apps is only a few hours long. It gives developers fresh ideas a competitive advantage by getting to the market faster. As a result, one of the significant advantages of Android development is the reduced TTM (time-to-market).

  • Scalable and Versatile

With the addition of Android Studio, the operating system’s versatility and adaptability have increased. It works with all Android devices, including smartphones, tablets, Android TV, and wearables. In addition, it allows Android apps to work with new technologies, such as AR, VR, and IoT.

Further, an Android app platform’s adaptability helps development teams create dynamic mobile applications that serve numerous roles once installed on a device.

  • Great Customization

Android is an open-source platform with a lot of customization options for developers. It is for this reason that Android apps are so popular. Moreover, the operating allows you to create universal apps that may already be linked to your existing business processes’ data management features multimedia tools. As a result, businesses can benefit from accessing a more extensive client base by adapting to changing business needs.

Benefits of iOS App Development

  • More Lucrative

iPhone apps offer a higher ROI than Android apps. This fact adds a great deal to the advantages of iOS app development.

Keeping an eye on the mistakes, tips, tricks, and other related information can help you get the most out of your iOS app development process in terms of generating profit. If you want to gain an idea of everything worth understanding, consult a mobile app development, which was created based on the professionals’ experiences.

  • Highest Quality Standards

Before being released to the market, iPhone apps are required to pass the highest quality standards set by Apple’s Play Store. When a user installs an iPhone app, he can expect flawless performance and a fantastic experience. Apple’s reputation and goodwill have resulted in a solid and devoted customer base for iPhone apps.

Android app developers use open-source libraries and take a non-standard approach to development. As a result, some apps provide a good user experience while others provide a less-than-satisfactory experience. Across all platforms, iPhone customers are greeted by the same enthralling UX.

Since Android app development is slower, the cost of developing a Mobile app is substantially higher than developing an iPhone app. As a result, businesses are compelled to outsource Android projects to the lowest bidder, who may give subpar results. This is why each and every app on the Apple Play Store is carefully vetted before being published and released to the public.

  • Enterprise Data Security

Android apps provide a significant danger of intrusion into a company’s sensitive and confidential data stored in apps. When comparing iPhone versus Android in terms of security, iPhone apps, on the other hand, secure firmware and software with robust security methods such as:

  • Integrated data handling
  • Data duplication prevention measures
  • Measures are taken to prevent data encryption from compromising security

iPhone users are protected from hackers and malware, another advantage of iOS over Android.

  • Great User Experience

iOS apps provide an outstanding user experience that is wholly supported by Apple’s features. The total cohesion between software and hardware results in excellent iPhone app performance for commercial applications.

Moreover, providing thorough customer service and maintenance throughout an app’s lifecycle increases user satisfaction. This is something else that adds to the benefits of using iOS for app development.

  • An App for All Business Purpose

Businesses of all scales and sizes have acknowledged the benefits of having a mobile app for the brand’s image. Customers expect excellent mobility and responsiveness from the brands they do business with. This is something that comes with developing a business app for the iOS platform. Mobile applications are a great way to reach out to customers while they are on the go and stay in touch with them at all times.

All of your business needs can be met using iPhone apps, either custom-built or off-the-shelf. Even though iPhone app creation costs more than other options, you will learn that iPhone apps are more profitable due to their guaranteed market reach and higher-paying customers.

  • Good Market Penetration

Apple has a significant presence in developed countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom. The iOS apps can help a business expand its wings and break into these markets. Apple’s reputation and quality are established enough to ensure that your iOS apps for business will be successful. Another cooling-off fact is that Google has no track record in the app arena.

Android apps must compete with millions of new apps on the market. So even after spending a lot of money on top-rated Android app development companies, it’s difficult to predict whether the app will generate enough cash to cover the initial investment, let alone earn a profit.

  • Easy Interface

The iOS for business is noted for its beautiful UI/UX, which increases user engagement of the apps. It means that if you choose iOS app development, you will be able to draw a more significant number of users to your app. The engaging and straightforward layout of iOS apps is already a hit with Apple users.

These features can increase the appeal of the company’s app and increase sales. Further, iOS business apps are scalable, which may expand as your company grows. So, the ROI improves inevitably.

Finishing Thoughts

Here, you have learned about the various applications tools for Android and iOS. Besides just that, you also got an idea about the various advantages of each of these platforms in app development.

So now, let’s just talk about a few considerations that you might need to make before choosing any one of them. 

  • Your budget and development time
  • How unique do you want your interface to be
  • Your target audience

Although many more aspects need to be covered while talking about mobile app development. However, for now, let’s just stick to the essential tools and the reasons why you should choose one over the other. Getting the business decision to be bang on the right in the first attempt is the need of the hour.

What else to read?

In this part of the data visualization project, we will review discrete data graphs that help find similarities and differences between various categories of data and discuss their purposes and specifics.

But firstly, let’s sort out what a discrete data is.

(more…)

With the thought of our community, we decided to move our forum to a full-fledged support platform. 

Stack Overflow is a place where our users can also be rewarded for their activity and attention to our tool. (with voting, user badges, reputation points, etc.)  So now, you can ask questions, get answers, share your solutions, and build your expert Stack Overflow profile.

It will also prevent us from duplicated questions on our forum and StackOverflow and will help us to keep our focus on one platform.

Note! 🐞 To report a bug or request features, please use GitHub. That will be the right place to raise a ticket about any product issue you may face.

 ?You may wonder…

❔ What happens with the existing forum and all Q&As?

  • The forum continues to operate in read-only mode. So there is still a good knowledge base for different common questions you may have about the product. Simply search for your query. We’re sure you will find a lot of answers there.

❔ Well, I’m on Stack Overflow. How can I find questions about WebDataRocks?

  • Simply enter [webdatarocks] into the search box and you will see all the list of questions tagged with [webdatarocks].

❔ How do you know about my question? Should I tag them somehow?

  • Yes, It’s better to use the [webdatarocks] tag to let us & the community know that you need some help with our tool. 

Additionally, you also can use other tags to specify the framework or technology you use.

❔ I’ve already asked a question on the website forum. What if I want to continue a thread?

  • We suggest you post the question on Stack Overflow or report the bug on Github and add the reference to the thread from our website.

🤝 Please, don’t hesitate to ask for help from our community! We hope you will have a joyful experience with our product.

There are rumors that building desktop applications is already irrelevant. But it’s not like that. Electron js. is a great approach to desktop software development that gained popularity among software engineers. Why? This is what I am going to discuss. You will know what hides behind this web technology and why to apply it backed with demanded desktop applications as an example.

Why Opt  For Electron.js?

Using Electron, there are no specific skills or SDK are required. The best thing about this technology is that every junior developer can try it and become successful. It already employs domain logic, design, and overall web app architecture. As a result, it contributes to reducing multi-platform app development prices. 

Moreover, this framework is powered by a Chromium engine allowing for implementing the most fantastic chrome’s functions. In addition, the engine is able to reload itself, which means you don’t need to restart the software every time you modify the code. It results in instant reloading and optimizing the overall experience. Also, all the errors and memory losses are detected by built-in chrome tools themselves. Hence, you won’t need to involve a third-party debugger.

JavaScript programmers should know all the specifics of Electron.js, how it operates, and what technology to use for implementing third-parties APIs. Thus, if you’re planning to hire Javascript developers, ensure they’re proficient in HTML5, CSS3, AngularJS, ReactJS. And they’re experienced in SQL, MongoDB, and GraphQL (or REST).

What Electron.js Stands For?

Electron stands for a web framework that lets programmers develop cross-platform applications with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. It does it by submitting rich JS APIs that manage the particulars of speaking to multiple operating platforms. How does this framework work? Electron-based applications operate as web apps, with the only difference being that they can interpret and footage information in the file of the data processing system. Electron has been added to programmers’ toolbox due to its ability to increase development speed. The Electron bridged the gap between a need for modern desktop applications and an accessible tool for it. This web technology brought grace to desktop software development, moving it to a different level.

Strong Points of Electron.js

Now, let’s see why Electron-based applications are a worthy alternative to mobile native ones.

Advantages of electron

Security

For instance, if a regular app needs to be transformed into a cross-platform one utilizing Electron, all the information is kept in the system at the local level. Hence, data security is guaranteed. On the other hand, if the user wants to keep information in the cloud, a programmer must ensure that this cloud has a strong security level.

Accessibility 

JavaScript/Plugin offers software engineers free management and gives the opportunity to use hardware-level APIs. The framework provides flexibility in terms of features, enabling developers to choose the required functions for their desktop projects. Moreover, migration to discussed technology is smooth.

High Performance

In some cases, Electron-based cross-platform apps demonstrate high performance compared to native ones. It depends on two factors:

  • Number of components used by the desktop
  • Whether the desktop loads the only elements required

ElectronJS is capable of integrating one code to all platforms, which significantly speeds up the development process.

Simplified Management

Clients won’t encounter challenges conveying project requirements to the development team because cross-platform projects can be packaged for all platforms. Besides, no multiple tests are required to ensure that each app contains identical features. Since the whole work is done in a separate code base, QA engineers can fix the issue within, wherever it appears. Therefore, the development time goes down.

Reusability

Since Electron is backed by one code base, software engineers can use this advantage to make both web apps and desktop apps. In addition, the base code can be reused by itself since developers use single code for a single app but distribute it to all platforms. 

Multiple APIs offered

When it comes to software development, one of the first questions that might be hovering in your head is what features need to be implemented to succeed. From this perspective, ElectronJS is what you’re looking for. It offers a wide variety of APIs that you can use to enrich your product, thus, reduce the development time. For example, Squirrel supports many tools and libraries that assist in developing installers and integrating auto-updates functionality.

Reduced on costs

Turning to cross-platform desktop application development, you cut down the cost of development. And if you decide to invest in additional digital projects, programmers will fulfill the task faster.

However, despite all the benefits Electron brings both for users and the development team, it has some drawbacks that cannot be neglected.

Drawbacks of Electron

Large size

Chromium browser (codebase for web browser) is large software including many code lines. As a result, your app will convert into one large block that takes a tidbit of your hard drive. However,  modern PCs submit two terabytes of operating storage, so this issue can easily be solved.

Resources grabbing 

Besides operative memory, Electron-based products occupy system reserves and utilize plenty of laptops’ battery energy. The reason is that such applications are optimized for different platforms, thus, energy inefficient. In contrast, native applications are made for a particular platform, so their reserves are streamlined effectively.

Specific requirements

Here I imply individual clients’ requirements. Best-case scenario, all cross-platform apps should operate identically on all OS. However, if clients want to add unique features for each platform, it will lead to some difficulties concerning product development. Firstly, it will take some time to realize those features. Secondly, increased time leads to additional expenses. Take any Electron-based app like Slack or WhatsUp. It looks the same on any operating system. So admit the identity of your application or go native.

Well-Known Electron-based Desktop Applications

Let’s consider five successful desktop application examples.

Projects made with Electron.js

WordPress Desktop App

WordPress is a web publishing software that allows business owners to edit, produce, and handle website content without coding knowledge. Commonly, WordPress is launched through browsers. But the company decided to release a desktop platform with cross-platform support to bring a smooth user experience enabling them to concentrate on the filling of their website without getting distracted from browser tabs — or keep their website set aside but available.

Electron js. along with React framework contributed to fast load and an exciting user experience.

Ghost Electron App

Ghost is a content marketing tool that allows creating, managing, and running various web publications (blogs, books, posts, etc.). Ghost desktop app enables authors to handle different online materials simultaneously and concentrate on their workflow. It’s pretty challenging to make shortcuts in the browser — the platform gets things easier. 

Pexels Desktop App

Pexels are the gold mine for creative people that contain a great variety of free images and photos. Thanks to ElectronJS, users don’t need to download the pictures and just need to copy them in their clipboard with one click. Then, they can attach photos to any application and employ them as stock photos for their blogs or social media posts.

Visual Studio Code

This is a customized cross-platform tool that is used for code editing. Electron framework resulted in high speed and slight memory utilization. In addition, the platform comes with built-in support for most demanded programming languages (C++, JavaScript, Python, etc.) and provides a rich ecosystem of augmentations.

It offers great features called IntelliSense that mark errors in code and submit a guide on fixing those mistakes. Moreover, the programmers can tailor functionality, keyboard shortcuts, or themes based on their needs and expertise.

Discord

Discord stands for chatting platform for game-lovers. Electron made it accessible to all major platforms. The app lets users create new channels or join the already made ones. Channels are basically games. Users can find many other gamers chatting via messages or audio files in each channel, sharing images or videos. However, after a user joins the group, they can’t send messages straight away. Instead, they need to wait at least ten minutes until the system tests their patience level and verifies their accounts.

Summing Up

If you decide to deploy a cross-platform application, ElectronJS is the right choice. Experienced specialists will deliver an application in a few days due to its integration capabilities with all JavaScript libraries. In addition, Electron stands for web technology so that applications designed with this tool can be easily turned into web ones if required.

What else to read?

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