# quasar-proton [WIP]
## A fresh take on creating cross-platform apps.
[](https://quasar.dev)
[](https://github.com/quasarframework/quasar/tree/proton)
[](https://github.com/quasarframework/quasar/tree/proton)
[](https://chat.quasar.dev)
[](https://good-labs.github.io/greater-good-affirmation)
**Proton** brings a mode to build Quasar Apps that creates tiny, blazing 
fast binaries for all major desktop platforms. In Quasar's
[neverending quest](https://quasar.dev/introduction-to-quasar#Why-Quasar%3F)
for performance and security, the core team is proud to offer an
alternative to Electron.
Whether you are just starting out making apps for your meetup or
regularly crunch terabyte datasets, we are absolutely confident that
you will love using Proton as much as we love making and maintaining it.
## Who Proton is For
Anyone who can create a Quasar app can use Proton, as it is *merely* a new
build target. All components and plugins (suitable for Native Desktop) can
be used. For the User Interface, nothing has changed, except you will
probably notice that everything seems much faster.
Because of the way Proton has been built and can be extended, developers
are able to interface not only with the entire Rust ecosystem, but also
with many other programming languages. Being freed of the heaviest thing
in the universe and the many shortcomings of server-side Javascript
suddenly opens up whole new avenues for high-performance, security-focused
applications that need the purebred power, agility and community
acceptance of a low-level language.
We expect to witness an entire new class of applications being built with
Quasar Proton. From a simple calender to locally crunching massive realtime
feeds at particle colliders or even mesh-network based distributed message-
passing ecosystems - the bar has been raised and gauntlet thrown.
What will you make?
## Technical Details
The user interface in Proton apps currently leverages Cocoa/WebKit on macOS,
gtk-webkit2 on Linux and MSHTML (IE10/11) or Webkit via Edge on Windows.
**Proton** is based on the MIT licensed prior work known as
[webview](https://github.com/zserge/webview).
The default binding to the underlying webview library currently uses Rust,
but other languages like Golang or Python (and many others) are possible
(and only a PR away).
> Rust is blazingly fast and memory-efficient: with no runtime or garbage
collector, it can power performance-critical services, run on embedded
devices, and easily integrate with other languages. Rust’s rich type system
and ownership model guarantee memory-safety and thread-safety — and enable
you to eliminate many classes of bugs at compile-time. Rust has great
documentation, a friendly compiler with useful error messages, and top-notch
tooling — an integrated package manager and build tool, smart multi-editor
support with auto-completion and type inspections, an auto-formatter, and
more. - [https://www.rust-lang.org/](https://www.rust-lang.org/)
This combination of power, safety and usability are why we chose Rust to be
the default binding for Proton. It is our intention to provide the most safe
and performant native app experience (for devs and app consumers), out of
the box.
### Current Status
We are in the process of vetting this new mode. It is not yet available to
use without jumping through some development hurdles. If you don't care,
please reach out to the team at https://chat.quasar.dev and we'll guide
you through the process. Here is a bit of a status report.
- [x] Promise based File System Access
- [x] App Icons and integration with Icon-Genie
- [ ] Frameless Mode
- [x] Build on MacOS
- [x] Build on Linux
- [ ] Build on Windows
- [x] STDOUT Passthrough with Command Invocation
- [x] Self Updater
- [x] Inter Process Communication (IPC)
- [x] Documentation
### Comparison between Proton 1 and Electron 5
| | Proton | Electron |
|--|--------|----------|
| Binary Size MacOS | 3.6 MB | 148.7 MB |
| Memory Consumption MacOS | 13 MB | 34.1 MB |
| Benchmark FPS | TODO | TODO |
| Interface Service Provider | Varies | Chromium |
| Quasar UI | VueJS | VueJS |
| Backend Binding | Rust | Node.js (ECMAScript) |
| Underlying Engine | C++ | V8 (C/C++) |
| FLOSS | Yes | No |
| Multithreading | Yes | No |
| Bytecode Delivery | Yes | No |
| Can Render PDF | Yes | No |
| Multiple Windows | Yes | Yes |
| GPU Access | Yes | Yes |
| Updater | Yes | Yes |
| Inter Process Communication (IPC) | Yes | Yes |
| Cross Platform | Yes | Yes |
| Custom App Icon | Yes | Yes |
## Relation to Upstream Origins
We have made the decision to fork, enhance and maintain several upstream
projects here in this repository, in order to guarantee the security of the
code and our ability to enhance it with features that may not be needed for
other consumers.
We hope that this code is useful, but make no claims to suitability or
guarantees that it will work outside of the Quasar ecosystem.
This has been done with our best attempt at due diligence and in
respect of the original authors. Thankyou - this project would never have
been possible without your amazing contribution to open-source and we are
honoured to carry the torch further. Of special note:
- [zserge](https://github.com/zserge) for the original webview approach
- [Boscop](https://github.com/Boscop) for the Rust Bindings
## Documentation
Head over to the Quasar Framework official website:
[https://quasar.dev](https://quasar.dev)
## Stay in Touch
For latest releases and announcements, follow on Twitter:
[@quasarframework](https://twitter.com/quasarframework)
## Chat Support
Get realtime help at the official community Discord server:
[https://chat.quasar.dev](https://chat.quasar.dev)
## Community Forum
Ask complicated questions at the official community forum:
[https://forum.quasar.dev](https://forum.quasar.dev)
## Contributing
Please make sure to read the [Contributing Guide](./.github/CONTRIBUTING.md)
before making a pull request. If you have a Quasar-related
project/component/tool, add it with a pull request to
[this curated list](https://github.com/quasarframework/quasar-awesome)!
Thank you to all the people who already contributed to Proton!
## Semver
quasarframework/proton is following [Semantic Versioning 2.0](https://semver.org/).
## Licenses
Code: (c) 2019 - Daniel Thompson-Yvetot, Razvan Stoenescu, Lucas Nogueira.
MIT and where applicable Apache
Logo: CC-BY-NC-ND
- Original Proton Logo Design by [Daniel Thompson-Yvetot](https://github.com/nothingismagick)
- Based on the prior work by [Emanuele Bertoldi](https://github.com/zuck)
Note: This license notice will not be complete until we have performed an
upstream audit. If you feel that your name should be listed here, please
create a PR to this file and provide references so we can fact-check. Thanks!