Calculator app source code now available for devs

Mar 7, 2019 08:08 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has decided to open source the Windows 10 Calculator app on GitHub and allow developers to suggest and prototype new features that could at some point become available for all users of the operating system.

Published under the MIT License, the project includes the source code, build system, unit tests, and product roadmap, and Microsoft says the development will come in line with the standard GitHub flow of any other app.

Developers can participate in discussions, report or fix issues, suggest new feature ideas and prototype them, and work together with Microsoft engineers on improving the Calculator app.

“As developers, if you would like to know how different parts of the Calculator app work, easily integrate Calculator logic or UI into your own applications, or contribute directly to something that ships in Windows, now you can. Calculator will continue to go through all usual testing, compliance, security, quality processes, and Insider flighting, just as we do for our other applications,” Microsoft explains.

Core Windows 10 app

The Calculator app will continue to be a key part of Windows 10, and Microsoft hopes that together with developers, the application would improve in a more significant manner thanks to feature suggestions and ideas that are powered by the rest of the community.

“Through this project, developers can learn from Microsoft’s full development lifecycle, as well as reuse the code to build their own experiences. It’s also a great example of Fluent app design. To make this even easier, we will be contributing custom controls and API extensions that we use in Calculator and other apps, to projects like the Windows Community Toolkit and the Windows UI Library,” the software giant notes in its announcement.

Full information on everything you need to begin experimenting with Calculator improvements is available on the GitHub page linked above.