注意: Electron 以前被称为 Atom Shell。

与 NW.js 相似，Electron 提供了一个能通过 JavaScript 和 HTML 创建桌面应用的平台，同时集成 Node 来授予网页访问底层系统的权限。

但是这两个项目也有本质上的区别，使得 Electron 和 NW.js 成为两个相互独立的产品。

1. 程序的入口

在NW.js中，应用的主入口是网页或者JS脚本。 你需要在package.json中指定一个html或者js文件，一旦应用的主窗口(在html作为主入口点的情况下)或脚本被执行，应用就会在浏览器窗口打开。

在 Electron 中，入口是一个 JavaScript 脚本。 不同于直接提供一个URL，你需要手动创建一个浏览器窗口，然后通过 API 加载 HTML 文件。 你还可以监听窗口事件，决定何时让应用退出。

Electron 的工作方式更像 Node.js 运行时。 Electron 的 APIs 更加底层，因此你可以用它替代 PhantomJS 做浏览器测试。

2. 构建系统

为了避免构建整个 Chromium 带来的复杂度，Electron 通过 libchromiumcontent 来访问 Chromium 的 Content API。 libchromiumcontent 是一个独立的、引入了 Chromium Content 模块及其所有依赖的共享库。 用户不需要一个强劲的机器来构建 Electron。

3. Node 集成

在 NW.js，网页中的 Node 集成需要通过给 Chromium 打补丁来实现。但在 Electron 中，我们选择了另一种方式：通过各个平台的消息循环与 libuv 的循环集成，避免了直接在 Chromium 上做改动。 你可以查看 node_bindings 来了解这是如何完成的。

4. 多上下文语境

如果你是有经验的 NW.js 用户，你应该会熟悉 Node 上下文和 web 上下文的概念。这些概念的产生源于 NW.js 的实现方式。

通过使用Node的multi-context(多上下文)特性，Electron不需要在网页中引入新的Javascript上下文。

注意: 自从 0.13 以来，NW.js 选择性支持多上下文。

Technical Differences Between Electron and NW.js (formerly node-webkit)

Note: Electron was previously named Atom Shell.

Like NW.js, Electron provides a platform to write desktop applications with JavaScript and HTML and has Node integration to grant access to the low level system from web pages.

But there are also fundamental differences between the two projects that make Electron a completely separate product from NW.js:

1. Entry of Application

In NW.js the main entry point of an application is a web page or a JS script. You specify a html or js file in the package.json and it is opened in a browser window as the application's main window (in case of an html entrypoint) or the script is executed.

In Electron, the entry point is a JavaScript script. Instead of providing a URL directly, you manually create a browser window and load an HTML file using the API. You also need to listen to window events to decide when to quit the application.

Electron works more like the Node.js runtime. Electron's APIs are lower level so you can use it for browser testing in place of PhantomJS.

2. Build System

In order to avoid the complexity of building all of Chromium, Electron uses libchromiumcontent to access Chromium's Content API. libchromiumcontent is a single shared library that includes the Chromium Content module and all of its dependencies. Users don't need a powerful machine to build Electron.

3. Node Integration

In NW.js, the Node integration in web pages requires patching Chromium to work, while in Electron we chose a different way to integrate the libuv loop with each platform's message loop to avoid hacking Chromium. See the node_bindings code for how that was done.

4. Multi-context

If you are an experienced NW.js user, you should be familiar with the concept of Node context and web context. These concepts were invented because of how NW.js was implemented.

By using the multi-context feature of Node, Electron doesn't introduce a new JavaScript context in web pages.

Note: NW.js has optionally supported multi-context since 0.13.