Development of Desktop Application is quite popular now these days. There are huge number of frameworks in the market for Desktop Application Development and choosing the one best framework is not an simple task. These frameworks differs from one another according to their efficiency, scalability, reliability and portability. You need to choose a framework for your application development according to your need and consider pros and cons of every framework.

In this article we are going to discuss best frameworks for Windows, MacOS and Cross Platform application development. After reading this article you can choose best framework and start developing your application.

Best Frameworks For Desktop Application Development

1. Universal Windows Platform (UWP)

Universal Windows Platform is one of the most popular framework for cross platform development. UWP was developed by Microsoft and first introduced in Windows 10. Application developed with the help of UWP can run on many platforms belonging to Microsoft. This framework also provide popularity to .NET Framework.

Universal Windows Platform is very efficient and scalable framework, if you built an application for desktop then this framework holds the capability to measure it for mobile devices. Your application will run smoothly on mobile phones, tablets and Xbox. 


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2. Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)

Windows Presentation Foundation is another important framework for Desktop Application Development. Windows Presentation Foundation is a free and open source graphical subsystem originally developed by Microsoft for rendering various user interface elements like Vector Graphics, Adaptive Documents, Typography, Previously Rendered Media Objects, 2D and 3D  in windows based applications. 

WPF is a Framework in the .NET framework that is mainly used to develop Graphical User Interface for Desktop Applications. Some features of Windows Presentation Foundation is Data Binding, Media Services, Data Templets, Animations, Imaging and Effects. 

3. COCOA Touch

Cocoa is a original object oriented application framework for native MacOS application development. This framework is used to develop user interfaces for iOS, MacOS and tvOS. Cocoa application development framework makes the User Interface more interactive, entertaining and functional.

Cocoa Framework can be used in Perl, Python and Ruby languages and all the development tools of Cocoa framework are provided by Apple. With the help of Cocoa framework you can add many features to your application like graphical control elements, animation features and gesture recognition features. The Cocoa Framework will help you comply with all rules, regulations and Apple’s strict guidelines.

4. Swing 

If you know about Java Programming language then Swing is best desktop application development framework for you. Swing is a Java based framework that is used to develop native and cross platform desktop applications. Due to cross platform application developed by swing can run on any platform.

Swing framework contains a set of classes and provide more powerful and flexible components then AWT (Abstract Windowing Toolkit). Swing provides many different components like Buttons, Checkbox, Frame, RadioButton, TextArea etc. to enhance user experience.

5. Electron JS 

Elctron JS is also a popular framework form cross platform desktop application development. Electron JS  is an open source software framework developed and maintained by GitHub. Electron JS uses Node js as its implementation language. It combines the chromium rendering engine and Node.js runtime. 

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This Framework allows developers to use HTML, CSS and Java Script to build Desktop application. Many big tech companies use this framework for desktop application development including Stack, Microsoft, and Facebook.

Now lets talk about what kind of desktop application you can build using these frameworks -

1. Download Manager Applications

2. Plugins

3. Multi Media Applications

4. Client and Server Based Applications

5. Network Applications

6. Editing Applications etc.