Almost everyone knows about the wondrous and futuristic HoloLens by Microsoft. Just recently, the company released its augmented reality hardware in China along with six other countries.
What many folks don’t know is that Microsoft HoloLens is based on an application development platform called Windows Holographic. It is an application programming interface (API) which is a part of the Windows 10 API. Developers have already been building ultra-modern holographic experiences for the HoloLens courtesy of Universal Windows Platform.
What’s new for Microsoft’s HoloLens?
Microsoft has further invested in their Windows Holographic API and introduced a new tool which has been christened “HoloJS”, an open-source project powered by ChakraCore. For readers unfamiliar with the name, ChakraCore is an open-source JavaScript engine from Microsoft mainly used in Microsoft Edge on Windows 10 devices.
The new tool in the augmented reality developer’s kit came into existence after the company worked on a new C++ library. It now enables developers to build experiences for the HoloLens using JavaScript and WebGL.
Unlike most Microsoft releases, the feature rich HoloLens was left out of the spotlight it deserved until Twitter user WalkingCat discovered it on GitHub and shared it with the world like several other Microsoft releases. In the repository, Microsoft stated:
“HoloJS is a framework for creating UWP applications using JavaScript and WebGL. HoloJS is a C++ library that hosts Chakra to run JavaScript code, and also hosts ANGLE to handle OpenGL ES graphics calls. OpenGL ES calls are translated from WebGL calls by the JavaScript app. When running on a Microsoft HoloLens, HoloJS supports holographic rendering.”
To assist newbie developers, the company even provided documentation for HoloJS. This could give them a good jump start as long as they’re using Visual Studio 16 with Update 3. With it, they should have access to the HoloLens emulator.
For now, that’s just about all the latest information we have on Microsoft ‘s HoloLens venture. We may finally be getting out hands on the device early next year.
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