If you wish to create a native desktop application from web technologies, the open source world offers two main choices: NW.js (formerly node-webkit) and Electron (formerly atom-shell). Deciding which one to go with is not so obvious. That is precisely why I created the comparison chart found in this article. Hopefully, it will help you choose the right tool to build your next physical computing project.
In a typical physical computing project, you will need to gather input from the real world. For instance, you may need to sense distance to an object, vibration level, gps position, amount of light, air pressure, force applied, etc. How can you bring that external information in your JavaScript-based physical computing project? One of the easiest way is probably to use a sensor board made by Phidgets Inc. This article will show you precisely how to do that.
So, you want to start leveraging your JavaScript skills to interact with the physical world ? You have come to the right place. This article will paint a broad portrait of what can be achieved in the tangible world by using JavaScript. It will also point you in the direction of various tools, libraries, frameworks, devices and tutorials that can help you get started. Here we go!
The NW.js project lets you create apps with full native capabilities in HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Even better, it lets you access all Node.js modules directly from the browser environment. This means your web-platform-based application can now retrieve input from sensors or control hardware devices. This is the perfect environment for physical computing projects!
Perhaps one of the easiest way to get started in physical computing is to use the simplest input of all: the on/off switch. You might think a switch is a pretty boring way to sense the world but you would be very wrong. In this article, I will discuss some of the possibilities switches can offer as well as how to use them on the web platform and more specifically with JavaScript.
If you are working on a physical computing project that involves video output, you most likely want to have full control over what shows up on screen. A problem with using the web stack for such projects is that user interface elements from the browser and system show up by default. How can we get rid of them ?
A tiny library for image processing. It offers various effects such as: gaussian, grayscale, highpass, invert, laplacian, prewitt, rgb, roberts, saturation, sepia, sharpen, sobel, thresholding, lowpass 3×3 and lowpass 5×5.
Powerful library for working with neural networks in a JavaScript environment. The project has great documentation with lots of examples that will help you get you up to speed with some machine learning techniques.
Node-RED is a programming tool for wiring together hardware devices, APIs and online services in new and interesting ways. It provides a browser-based editor that makes it easy to wire together flows using the wide range of nodes in the palette that can be deployed to its runtime in a single-click.
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