In the beginning, Atom appeared. It created an API to make packages, but together with this API, it also allowed authors to use web APIs together with node.js packages, modules (including "native modules" - more on that later) and, finally, a special API that was used to communicate between the "main module" and the "browser part".

That last part, eventually, split from Atom and became Electron. And for a while, the Atom development was tied to the Electron one, meaning that an update on Atom usually meant an update on Electron, and vice-versa.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case for a long time...