Building and maintaining cross-platform desktop applications with native languages isn’t a trivial task. Since it’s hard to simulate on a foreign platform, packaging and distribution can be quite platform-specific and testing cross-platform apps is pretty complicated.In such scenarios, web technologies such as HTML5 and JavaScript can be your lifesaver. HTML5 desktop applications can be distributed across different platforms (Window, MacOS, and Linux) without any modifications to the code.

The book starts with a walk-through on building a simple file explorer from scratch powered by NW.JS. So you will practice the most exciting features of bleeding edge CSS and JavaScript. In addition you will learn to use the desktop environment integration API, source code protection, packaging, and auto-updating with NW.JS.
As the second application you will build a chat-system example implemented with Electron and React. While developing the chat app, you will get Photonkit. Next, you will create a screen capturer with NW.JS, React, and Redux.

Finally, you will examine an RSS-reader built with TypeScript, React, Redux, and Electron. Generic UI components will be reused from the React MDL library. By the end of the book, you will have built four desktop apps. You will have covered everything from planning, designing, and development to the enhancement, testing, and delivery of these apps.

JavaScript stands bestride the world like a colossus. Having conquered web development, it now advances into new areas such as server scripting, desktop and mobile development, game scripting, and more. One of the most essential languages for any modern developer, the fully-engaged JavaScript programmer need to know the tricks, non-documented features, quirks, and best practices of this powerful, adaptive language.

This all-practical guide is stuffed with code recipes and keys to help you unlock the full potential of JavaScript. Start by diving right into the core of JavaScript, with power user techniques for getting better maintainability and performance from the basic building blocks of your code. Get to grips with modular programming to bring real power to the browser, master client-side JavaScript scripting without jQuery or other frameworks, and discover the full potential of asynchronous coding. Do great things with HTML5 APIs, including building your first web component, tackle the essential requirements of writing large-scale applications, and optimize JavaScript’s performance behind the browser. Wrap up with in-depth advice and best practice for debugging and keeping your JavaScript maintainable for scaling, long-term projects. With every task demonstrated in both classic ES5 JavaScript and next generation ES6-7 versions of the language, Whether read cover-to-cover or dipped into for specific keys and recipes, JavaScript Unlocked is your essential guide for pushing JavaScript to its limits.

Automated testing is a significant part of agile development. QUnit is widely used in the jQuery Project for testing jQuery, jQuery UI, and jQuery Mobile; it can also be used to test any generic JavaScript code. As for JavaScript testing in particular, QUnit is a good choice for a framework as users can grasp the basics in a short span of time. The framework is a leading tool for unit and acceptance testing and can be used in conjunction with a wide range of third-party software. Instant Testing with QUnit covers all the essentials of QUnit and explains how you can use the framework in combination with other tools to improve your development process.

"Instant Testing with QUnit" is a hands-on guide that will help you achieve beneficial automated testing with QUnit and its plugins. This book also shows you how to engage QUnit for automated cross-browser testing and utilize it in conjunction with development automation and Continuous Integration tools.

"Instant Testing with QUnit" provides a comprehensive look into QUnit essentials and shows how you can benefit from the framework in conjunction with other tools. You will start by considering QUnit fundamentals before learning how QUnit can be used for functional testing and cross-browser automated testing with the Bunyip tool. You will also walk through a tutorial on popular QUnit plugins and then write one of your own. By the end of Instant Testing with QUnit, you will have learned how to run QUnit in the command line and how to set up the Jenkins CI server and make it perform QUnit tests.