# How are non programmers to use Julia Apps

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-are-non-programmers-to-use-julia-apps/127762>\
**Category:** New to Julia\
**Tags:** question\
**Created:** [April 6, 2025, 3:34pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-are-non-programmers-to-use-julia-apps/127762 "2025-04-06T15:34:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![TinWallop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e79b87/32.png) [@TinWallop](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/TinWallop)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 3:34pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-are-non-programmers-to-use-julia-apps/127762/1 "2025-04-06T15:34:44Z")

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How are non programmers to use Apps written in Julia? I know this isn’t a new topic and I know about PackageManager etc. but I’m still confused about what Julia is for.  
Are you expecting people to install Julia?  
I might want to package for Mac (dmg) and installers for windows.  
In all Windows apps nobody knows or cares what language it is written in, same for anything in the Apple App store.  
I get the impression Julia is for compiler developers interested in the highest performance and not app writers at all ☹

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**Author:** ![goerz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/goerz/32/3269_2.png) [@goerz](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/goerz)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 5:19pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-are-non-programmers-to-use-julia-apps/127762/2 "2025-04-06T17:19:33Z")

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> [@TinWallop](#):
>
> Are you expecting people to install Julia?

Generally, yes

> [@TinWallop](#):
>
> I get the impression Julia is for compiler developers interested in the highest performance and not app writers at all

I would say computational scientists, but yeah, I don’t think “App development” is Julia’s _primary_ focus. That’s not to say it can’t be done, but other languages might be better suited.

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**Author:** ![ufechner7](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/ufechner7/32/51363_2.png) [@ufechner7](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ufechner7)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 6:09pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-are-non-programmers-to-use-julia-apps/127762/3 "2025-04-06T18:09:55Z")

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> [@TinWallop](#):
>
> I get the impression Julia is for compiler developers interested in the highest performance

Julia is definitely not for compiler developers, but for scientific software developers, students and researchers (and many others, like data scientists and people who develop web services).

But it is indeed not the best choice for app developers. Things will improve in the future. Check out the status again in one or two years.

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**Author:** ![Janis\_Erdmanis](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/janis_erdmanis/32/10869_2.png) [@Janis\_Erdmanis](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Janis_Erdmanis)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 6:33pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-are-non-programmers-to-use-julia-apps/127762/4 "2025-04-06T18:33:30Z")

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> [@TinWallop](#):
>
> I might want to package for Mac (dmg) and installers for windows.

Julia can be packaged into installers; see AppBundler.jl project and [JuliaCon 2024 talk on it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wICPVpDa7aw&t=654s). It has a list of post-processing steps that one can follow to obtain nice-looking `.dmg` or `.msix` installers.

Thanks to the [NLNET grant](https://nlnet.nl/project/Julia-AppBundler/), I am now returning to the next stage of AppBundler.jl, where the post-processing steps will be integrated into the `bundle` function using open-source alternatives. That would make it easy to write CI integration pipelines, so, for instance, tagging a release on a GitHub would automatically (pre)compile the application on each corresponding platform and bundle it to its native installer. I expect this will be done within the next three months.

Then, there will be work on flatpack support, PackageCompiler integration, Julia distribution creation and some work on resolving sandboxing issues.