It’s time to get

After the

About Jeff Fox (@jfox015)Assoc. Dir., Digital Experience Tech LeadStarwood Hotels and Resorts

• Nineteen year web development veteran• (Almost) entirely self-taught in programming, web

and related technologies• Front end specialist with full stack skills/experience,

main core capability used to be Flash • Background in Graphic Design and art, music

production & engineering and “entertainment services”• Experience working for fortune 100 companies down

to creative agencies with as few as 10 people

Agenda

•Quickie LAMP Review• Four Components of the MEAN stack

(and a fifth bonus item too)•Wrap-up (with use cases)•Questions• Shatner

We all know

LAMP is a combination of four of the most popular open source technologies that form one of the most popular and ubiquitous platform stacks used on the web. It’s estimated that 82% of web sites run on some version of PHP [1]

[1] Source: http://www.w3techs.com/technologies/details/pl-php/all/all

LAMP is popularSome popular sites using PHP:

LAMP is popularWordpress hosted blogs and sites alone account for some 4.5% of all web sites [1]

[1] http://www.codeinwp.com/blog/mesmerizing-wordpress-stats/[2] http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/wordpress-statistics/

[3] https://www.hostt.com/wordpress-stats-for-2015/[4] https://managewp.com/14-surprising-statistics-about-wordpress-usage

• 74.6 Million Sites Depend on WordPress [2]

• 22% of New U.S. Registered Domains Run on WordPress [3]

• WordPress.com Gets More Unique US Visitors (126M) per month Than Amazon (96M) [4]

What is M.E.A.N?Mean is a combination of four technologies that also form a single platform stack. The common element between them is JavaScript.

NODE JSAbout…

About NodeJS

“Node's goal is to provide an easy way to build scalable network

programs.”

-- nodejs.org

Components of NodeJs• NodeJs runs on the V-8 Engine. • The V-8 Engine is an open source JavaScript engine created

and developer by Google which also powers the Chrome browser.

• V8 compiles JavaScript to native machine code (IA-32, x86-64, ARM, or MIPS ISAs) before executing it, instead of more traditional techniques such as executing byte code or interpreting it.

• Node uses CommonJS specifications for common modular package management format

• Uses NPM (Node Package Manager) to manage dependencies

How does Node work?• Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model, which

makes it lightweight• It makes use of event-loops via JavaScript’s callback functionality

to implement a non- blocking I/O

• While time consuming file and disk operations block script execution in PHP, Node JS commands execute in parallel, and use callbacks to signal completion or failure)

Event Driven Example

Node in the WildHow is Node being used?

API Servers

Mobile backends and full-stack JavaScript hybrid apps

Internet of things (IoT)

Web – HTTP servers and single page apps

Node Pros and Cons

ProsFast – Execution speedFaster to market –

development speedLess lines of codeGreat communityProven with high volume

systemsMost suited for

networking, I/O intensive applications

ConsWriting a large business

logic centric system is cumbersome

Callback hellException handling is

not straight forwardWriting event driven

code is complex compared to synchronous code

Source: NodeJS - Server Side JS

Node vs Java

• 20+ years development testing making a rock solid foundation

• Not as fast and Node, but absolutely a more trustworthy environment

• Well know coding and debugging support in all major IDEs

• True multi-threaded server support

• No, XML used for Ant and Maven builds for example

MATURITY

SPEED

TOOLS

THREADING

UNIFIED LANGUAGE

• Younger player (launched in 2009) with less real world battle testing

• Blazing fast execution, but sacrifices overall server safety for it

• Modern IDE tools support via add-ons for code-completion and some debugging

• Node simulated multi-threading via an event loop

• Node uses JavaScript in all aspects of the development

Source: Java vs. Node.js: An epic battle for developer mind share

EXPRESSAbout…

About Express

• Popular NodeJS Server framework library• Inspired by the Sinatra framework for Ruby• Minimal and flexible application design• Handles many operations through HTTP helper

utilities and the use of middleware• Easy to set up a working Express server in just

few lines of code• Supports single page, multi-page and hybrid web

applications

A basic Express app

Express MiddlewareMiddleware is any number of functions that are invoked by the Express.js routing layer before the final request handler is called

• Express Middleware is simply a function with three arguments• req – The HTTP Request• res – HTTP Response• next – Another Middleware to forward to after the function

completes

• Middleware is always invoked in the order added.• You can have multiple middleware for the same path.• Middleware has full access to the request and response objects.• Be mindful of middleware overriding fields of other middleware.• Middleware can be skipped by using the next function.

Express Middleware

Components of Express• Runs using NodeJs• App is the web application runtime• Middleware modules handle many routine operations:• Connect is a set of middleware that includes many helper

modules• logger • csrf Cross-site request forgery

protection• compress Gzip compression

basicAuth http authentication• bodyParser extensible request

body parser• json application/json parser• multipart multipart/form-data

parser• timeout request timeouts

• cookieParser cookie parser• session session management support

with bundled MemoryStore• cookieSession cookie-based session

support• methodOverride faux HTTP method

support• favicon efficient favicon server (with

default icon)• query automatic querystring parser,

populating req.query• errorHandler flexible error handler

Express Routing• Handles HTTP and RESTful calls over HTTP• Can direct to Middleware, MVC controllers, use templates or

return files

JADE TEMPLATESAbout…

Soon to be re-released as PUG

About Jade

• High performance template engine heavily influenced by Haml and implemented with JavaScript for Node• No need to worry about closing tags• Significant white space enforces clear coding convention

between team members• Layout Inheritance• Allows for full JavaScript expressions but makes it just

awkward enough to discourage full blown logic in the views• Support for inline Markdown and CoffeeScript

Source: Comparing JavaScript Templating Engines: Jade, Mustache, Dust and More

Jade Example

Jade vs other Node templatesJade Mustache Dust NunJucks EJS

No Closing Tags

Async

Layout Inheritance

Streaming

Custom tags

High Learning Curve

White Space Significance

Easy Includes/ Partials

Source: Comparing JavaScript Templating Engines: Jade, Mustache, Dust and More

MONGODBAbout…

Not that Mongo

About MongoDB

• An open source, cross platform database• Stores data in JSON like documents with dynamic

schemas (called BSON)• Fourth most popular database system worldwide

as of Jan 2016 [1]

• A “no sql” database without relationalconnections, search an API

[1] http://db-engines.com/en/ranking

Data Design Comparison

Traditional Data Design

• Static, uniform, scalar data• Data “looks” like

rectangles• Low level physical

representation

Document Data Design

• Flexible and capable of rich shapes• Based on objects

• High level business representation

Advantages of No-SQL Design• Agility• Start developing without an extremely long ER (entry-

relationship) model design• Flexible for schema changes as you go without penalty• Polymorphic schema models variable structure with ease

• Scalability• Shared-nothing architecture vs centrally controlled system

(eliminates any single point of failure, allows self-healing capabilities and non-disruptive upgrades)

• Scales horizontally, linearly• Sharding and load balancing• Auto-balance ensures a balances cluster

Source: MongoDB and the Internet of Things

Mongo and Relational DB

Major Use Cases…

…and Major Users• Big Data (Github)• Internet of Things (Bosch)• Complex Data Management (Cushman & Wakefield)• Mobile Apps (Twitter, Foursquare)• Customer Data Management (Intuit)• Social Networking and Collaboration (Cisco, Eventbright)• Content Management (New York Times, Adobe AEM,

eBay)• Embedded (Sitecore)

Oracle vs MongoDB

• Oranges• Created in 2009• Document SQL-Less Model• Supports Replication,

Horizontal scale and Sharding

• Queries using JavaScript• MIT License• Free for commercial use• JSON (with BSON)• Supported by multiple

cloud platforms

• Apples• Created in 1936• Relational Model• Supports Replication and

Horizontal scale

• Queries using SQL• Proprietary License• Large Price tag• Multiple data Types• Cloud Ready on Oracle

Cloud Platform

ANGULARJSAbout…

About AngularJS

• “Super heroic” framework created and developed by Google• Highly suited to single page front end web

applications• Version 1.x attempted to solve many web

application shortcomings in HTML 5 and JavaScript• Version 2.x tightly incorporates the latest

improvements in JavaScript and modular front end design methodologies

Anatomy of Angular 1.x

Anatomy of an Angular 1.x App

Indexhtml

App.js

Angular

BootstrapJqueryPlugins

CSSCSS

CSSCSS

HTMLPartial

REST API

HTMLPartial

HTMLPartial

$http

Controller

Routing

Controller Controller

ServicesServicesServices/Providers

Directives

Filters

Angular Module

$rootScopeJquery

About Angular 2• Angular 2 went final on 9/15!• Version 2 sheds the non-standard 1.x conventions and

embraces forward looking web standards like ECMAScript 6, Web Components as well as JS supersets like TypeScript• Component based architectural style • Highly Improved routing• Carries forward the ideology of Angular 1.x though the

code will look very different• Focus on performance, transparency of Angular

“internals” Change Detection and Rendering • Angular 2 has a simplified API for injecting dependencies

into components via ES6 Modules

Anatomy of an Angular 2 App

Angular 1 vs 2 Components

Big Changes in Angular 2

• Embraces ES6 Modules/Component Design• Goodbye $scope (we hardly knew you) and DDO• Ultra-Fast Change detection• Changes in state managed through new Zones concept instead of

“dirty checking”• Uses the new Object.observe property

• Major Routing Improvements• Uni-Directional data flow (Similar to Facebook’s React)• Angular 1.x’s popular 2-way data binding is removed• ng-model replaced by new Form Directives

• Improved Template syntax with Property and Event bindings instead of overuse of directives

$scope no more

One Framework, many langs• Angular 2 supports multiple variants of vanilla JavaScript

Including:• TypeScript• Dart• ES6• ES5

• TypeScript is a strongly typed superset of JavaScript currently in development at Microsoft. Angular 2 uses it after an agreement between Google and Microsoft• Pros

• Strong typed for larger codebases/teams• Cons

• Learning curve over traditional JavaScript• Must be compiled• Complicated to setup (requires definition files)

So can we use it in production yet?• Angular 2 went gold YESTERDAY so yes• Consider, however, that supporting technologies like

ECMAScript 6, TypeScript and Web Components will require compilers and polyfills until native support is universally achieved

WRAP UPTying it all together

Summary

• The MEAN stack is comprised of four JavaScript based technologies

• It can provide a flexible and powerful web development environment to quickly build fast and scalable web apps

• Leverages a single language allowing for development using resources with a similar coding toolset

• Node is a powerful platform for real-time, I/O web applications and APIs

• Express is a flexible server platform capable of complex MVC development

• Mongo is a SQL-less document driven database technology• Angular is a front end framework that allows development of

dynamic single page web application front-ends

MEAN at work• Best case scenarios for using Node:• Backend for RESTful data APIs• Streaming or real time app servers, like chat or

associate communication servers• Apps/sites with small budget and tight timelines• Internal dynamic web based tools (Call Centers,

Employee Support, Knowledge bases, etc.)• Monitoring Dashboards

• Avoid for:• Business logic centric systems (Java outperforms)• Heavy server side computation

Want a more thorough look?• Take a hands on deep dive into the design of a simple

MEAN based CRUD app• Github/jfox015 – Coming soon!

QUESTIONS? Anyone? Bueller?!?

Recommended Resources• NodeJS - Server Side JS• Best practices for Express app structure• Express.js Middleware Demystified• How to test your MongoDB models under Node & Express• Unit Testing Express Middleware• Unit Testing Express Middleware / TDD with Express and

Mocha• Test driven Development of Web Apps in Node.Js• Node.js frameworks• Oracle vs. MongoDB• Angular 2 vs Angular 1

Connect with or stalk me(Entirely up to you)

•Web Site: jfox015.com •Twitter: @jfox015•Github: Github.com/jfox015•Slideshare: Slideshare.net/jfox015•LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/jfox015

Thank you!