choosing the right javascript library/framework/toolkit for our project
TRANSCRIPT
Presentation goals
● Give directions
● Compare few major libraries, frameworks & toolkits
● Statistics
Framework
Universal, reusable software platform,
foundation of applications, products and
solutions.
● MooTools
● AngularJS
● BackboneJS
Toolkit
A set of independent libraries, designed to work
well together, that you can pick and choose
from.
● Dojo
● YUI
Size
● Size does not matter if the resources are distributed over CDN
● cdnjs.com
Code structure
● Classes for reusable components
● Constructor options
● Use synchronization API instead of nested callbacks
● A utility should first try to delegate to native and if it fails, use it’s own implementation
● The more utilities, the better
Utilities
● String
trim() hyphenate() camelCase() escapeRegExp()
toInt() toFloat() substitute()
● Object & Array
each() some() every() filter() contains()
map() empty() append()
Commonly needed utilities
Commonly needed utilities
● Object
values() keys() clone() merge()
toQueryString()
● Array
associate() clean() unique() flatten()
User Interface
● API should provide full control○ destroy()
○ DatePicker should be able to have its value set from outside
○ Tabs should provide API for selecting tab
dynamically
When to use MV*
● AJAX-heavy web apps
● JSON data structure
● Need to render data in different ways on the same page
● A lot of user interaction that triggers updates
When NOT to use MV*
● Your server cannot handle all the requests
● Your app has little interactions on the page
● Data changes rarely
● MV* may be overkill for small projects
○ Heavy to implement - if you could have gotten away with 1 class, you now have 3
● When was the latest version released?
● How often do they release new version?
● Are there currently any betas?
● Is there huge incompatibility between versions?
Releases
Support
● How many opened issues are there?
● Is the documentation rich & easy to use?
● How steeper is the learning curve?
● Spend some time browsing the source code
● Read other people’s opinion, but don’t count on them!
Tips
Tips
● Write a module/component for your App in plain JavaScript or pseudo code; then migrate to the selected library/framework and see how it feels
● TodoMVC has implementations in several MV* frameworks - check it out todomvc.com