I was hoping someone could shed some light on the Aurelia framework for me. I've noticed many posts out there promoting this framework so I've decided to take a deep dive into it. Though I've had some issues right off the bat with getting starting while reading through their Doc HUB. I see many subjective claims and not very much code. Or diagrams for that matter. Sorry, I might be the visual learner but I think by having something that is "tangible" (as much as the Web could allow) would help people like me adopt this framework.
Now architecture patterns!
Taken from Aurelia Docs: "MV* with Conventions" or use "jQuery, React, Polymer, Bootstrap, MaterializeCSS and much more."
MVVM or MCV? Well why not MV*!
Forgive me, but I don't consider Bootstrap a framework in this sense of the word. How would I just use Aurelia? Do I get to decide what architecture I want to use and not pick or piecemeal several ones together? Why is the star there? Is this just me over thinking this or should it be as MV(C | *)?
Also, I've yet to actually write any code using Aurelia and so this question may be easily answered by just trying to use it. I would truly like to see more code out there for this framework. Maybe that would ease my visual brain sponge monster.
Thank you to whomever response to this silly question of which could have easily been answered if I had friends.
Here are some answers based on my opinion.
Why is the star there?
The * means "whatever". It could be MVVM, MVC, etc.
[...] I don't consider Bootstrap a framework in this sense of the word.
Yes, you are right. In fact, jQuery, React and Bootstrap are not really frameworks, but some say that Bootstrap is a "Visual Framework" or "Design Framework". The problem is that the term "framework" is a little vague and could be easily confused.
What the docs wanted to say is that you can use Aurelia with any other libraries that you like. You are not limited to anything.
About the patterns, I think you should see these resources:
Contact Manager Tutorial http://aurelia.io/hub.html#/doc/article/aurelia/framework/latest/contact-manager-tutorial/1
A list of apps written with Aurelia (Source-Code Available) http://builtwithaurelia.com/
Official Chat - https://gitter.im/aurelia/Discuss - This one is the most helpful for you. You can talk to a lot of people and ask many questions as you want. I believe all of your doubts will be answered there.
I hope this helps!
Related
I have completed codeacademy twice, freecodecamp twice and read a few online articles...I believe I now have a good understanding of the fundamentals of Javascript.
However, I feel lost in terms of where to go next. People say build projects, but where do I start? How do I plan? Even though I know the fundamentals of Javascript, I still feel there is a lot to learn. I feel like I will only truly start understanding Javascript once I start putting projects together but I cant think of any.
Also, codeacademy, freecodecamp and these other online course websites dont seem to really teach DOM manipulation. Is there any online coding sites, similar to the ones mentioned, which will allow me to practice DOM manipulation?
I would be hufely grateful if people who have developed their understanding in Javascript can give me some advice based on how they did it.
I am just sitting here staring at my laptop and going back and forth. I cant really seem to figure out what to do next, now that I have gained a basic understanding of the core concepts of Javascript. Please guys, help!
This is not a very good question, but I still would like to try and explain.
Questions you need to ask yourself
Frontend or backend js?
I assume frontend based on the "DOM manipulation" part, but there is also Node.js for the backend with it's own unique API to use and interact with the operating system.
Do I want to use libraries and/or frameworks
Depending on your needs and preferences you will come in touch with these things, they all have their own learning curve, on top of learning js. Libraries are mostly just function in order to help you. However frameworks like Vue and Angular require a way of writing your code that is like it's own language. (opinionated)
What version(s) of js and browsers do you want to support?
Javascript has evolved over time and the javascript engines in browsers as well. Older IE browsers will be harder to support without the help of a library like jQuery.
Now about the learning part and where you can practice.
There are probably thousands of great sites to practice, however I will give you my favorites.
The stackoverflow documentation on javascript (top navigation on this page)
I will get hate for this: W3Schools
To read the docs on Mozilla
interactive on both codeschool and codeacademy
JSFiddle for practicing in a closed environment
https://bento.io/topic/javascript
https://learnxinyminutes.com/docs/javascript/
http://www.allitebooks.com/ for specific ebooks
Have a look at what frameworks are popular nowadays and why. If they suit your needs. Learn them one or two at a time but not more, so you won't mix them all up in the end. Try to at least understand OOP in javascript even if you don't intend to use it later. Anyone feel free to expand this answer because it is hard to cover it all myself.
I was recently hired at a startup as the front end developer. As our product is a user admin that will be used by financial organizations, we want the app to run as much like an application as possible. I have been tasked with finding the clientside framework.
After researching, I have chosen backbone.js. When I presented this choice today, I was asked some questions that I do not have the full answers for but thought you guys might.
Is backbone.js production ready?
Is it rock solid and is there any proof?
I will only be using models, views, and collections for this app. My question is, how confident can I be that backbone will not just randomly fail when dealing with models. Are there any official tests I might be able to look at? What are your experiences with backbone?
Is there any sort of support network in place for dealing with backbone related issues?
Answers to either of these questions as well as any insights you have that I could present to my boss would be most appreciated! I Really want to use backbone as I think its a perfect fit, but because its so new, I need to sell it.
Thanks in advance!
Is Backbone.js production ready?
Take a look at Backbone's example section. Some of its better known users include:
DocumentCloud themselves.
37signals for BaseCamp Mobile.
SoundCloud for their mobile site.
BitTorrent in a manner that is not immediately obvious from the description, but seemingly related to a beta product.
Is there a support network in place?
There is, of course, no guarantee that it will be supported by its authors indefinitely, but it has gained a lot of traction very quickly so I don't see it going anywhere soon. The authors recommend reporting issues on GitHub.
There is always Stack Overflow itself for support!
I too was looking for a front-end app framework a few months ago. Here's the list of requirements that we had and how Backbone.js responded to each of those:
1. Browser support (IE8+)
There is one caveat here: The backbone.history module makes use of hashchange event, which doesn't work in IE7 and below. There are ways to hack around this problem, so it's not a show stopper, but kind of an annoyance.
2. The ability to apply our own look and feel to UI elements
As backbone only enforces the MVC structure of your app (unlike frameworks like cappucino or sproutcore) this was a perfect fit for us.
3. Being able to hook up any other external JavaScript libraries
We were using jQuery already, and backbone supports it, so that was fine. However, it seems like backbone is trying to take a library agnostic approach (for instance you can use zepto.js instead of jQuery if you like).
4. Community Support
There is a lot of introductory material on backbone (like people posting tutorials on blogs). Unfortunately, when your APP get's complicated it turned out there were quite a few "architectural" parts we had to figure out by ourselves, there was no obvious way to do it. The DOCS are good, but not great.
I guess on of the pitfalls of opinionated frameworks (like rails), is that sometimes you get caught up in a "am I doing this right" feeling.
5. Real world examples
It's always convincing to see that someone else has actually done something "REAL" with backbone:
http://documentcloud.github.com/backbone/#examples
We ended up using Backbone, and it was overall a nice experience, and I will definetively be looking into it again for our next project.
Who is to say that something is production ready better than the product users?
I'm working with backbone.js on a relatively large project (livechat operator application, 13k+ lines, currently at early beta). I have more than three months of experience with backbone and in my opinion it's excellent. I haven't had any unpleasant surprises because of backbone. I can't imagine developing an app of this size without clean and well-structured code. With backbone you can achieve that easily.
There's also an excellent bonus when using backbone - underscore.js. You will use that a lot.
StackOverflow backbone.js tag is there for you!
Your company, being a startup, cannot be afraid of new things. You should adapt them and spread your experiences. Remember, that your product is also going to be new.
A little late to the game with this answer but I felt compelled to respond to the question "how confident can I be that backbone will not just randomly fail when dealing with models".
No code just randomly fails; code fails for a specific reason which can always be traced back to somewhere. Often code appears to randomly fail because it's so complex and obtuse you can't follow it. In the case of backbone.js, the source is small (1,500 lines FULLY documented) and REALLY well documented.
If you need to trace down what is breaking, it's a simple matter of diving into the source and seeing what is going on.
Anyhow, I hope you got to try it out at your job!
At Planbox We've been using Backbone JS in in production for over 6 months without any problems. I wrote a few posts about our experience here and here.
We even use Backbone JS for our mobile version along with jQuery.
I want to use a javascript framework with MVC for a complex web application (which will be one of a set of related apps and pages) for an intranet in a digital archives. I have been looking at SproutCore and JavascriptMVC. I want to choose one framework and stick with it.
Does anybody know what the distinguishing features are when comparing these two?
I want something that is simple, straightforward that I can customize/hack easily, and that doesn't get in my way too much, but that at the same time gives me a basis for keeping my code nicely organized, and event-driven. I also plan on using jquery substantially.
I know sproutcore is backed by Apple, and looks like it is getting more popular by the day, and it has a nice green website :), whereas JavascriptMVC looks less professional, with less of a following and less momentum behind it.
I've done the tutorials for both and I was impressed by SproutCore more (in the JMVC tutorial you don't really do anything substantial) - but somewhere in the back of my mind I feel that JMVC might just be better because it doesn't try and do too much - it just gives you MVC functionality based on a couple of jquery plugins, and you can use jquery for everything else, so its flexible. Whereas SproutCore seems to have more of its own API etc... which is also nice in a way... but then you're kind of stuck within that.... hmmm I'm confused :).
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Being a JavaScriptMVC contributor, I'm extremely biased. But I'll try to give the best answer I can.
JavaScriptMVC has also taken years to develop. But instead of focusing on ui functionality, it focused on the layers just below that. There are a few reasons for this:
You can find a jQuery widget to meet almost every need. There's no reason to compete these plugins. Instead, JavaScriptMVC tries to work with them.
Most people need one or two custom widgets / controls. JavaScriptMVC wants to make building and maintaining these pieces as easy as possible.'
Flexibility+API. I'm not sure exactly how to say this one ... but here's my best shot ... With JavaScriptMVC, we wanted every layer of the application to be as easy to understand and maintain as possible. This is why we picked jQuery as our low-level library. It's API is about the best abstraction for the dom possible. People typically go directly from the low-level API to build the Widget/Control. This is why most jQuery widgets' code look very dissimilar. We wanted a middle layer that organize our code and promote best practices, while providing enough flexibility to meet almost any requirement. So with JavaScriptMVC, you get very solid low and middle-level layers. But, you don't get widgets.
JavaScriptMVC has testing, error reporting, and documentation baked into the framework. The testing is the most impressive part. It has integrated selenium and envjs testing.
My recommendation would be to go with SproutCoreif your requirements can be built pretty straightforward with SproutCore. But if you know jQuery, have to build a lot of custom controls, or need really awesome testing, use JavaScriptMVC.
Funny, because just a month back or so, our team evaluated exactly these 2 frameworks head to head. We ended up choosing JavaScriptMVC, and I've been working hands-on with it for about a month.
I like it ... but, I was a HUGE proponent of SproutCore. I had never heard of either framework before we eval'd them, but once I saw SproutCore and looked under the hood, I was very, very impressed. Honestly, I don't think there's anything out there that can give you the kind of power it gives. Yes, you'll have a learning curve, but it's the kind of thing that lets one person accomplish the work of 5 or 10 once you know it.
So I'd use SproutCore in a heartbeat.
That being said, JavascriptMVC (aka "JMVC") is nice. It doesn't really give you a ton on top of jQuery itself. You will still have some infrastructure to build yourself (depending on how complicated your requirements are). This is both a pro and a con. One nice thing about it is that, if you need to dig into the details of some piece of JMVC, you can ... it is not so incredibly huge that it is impenetrable.
In summary, there's not a thing wrong with JMVC. But there is, in my opinion, nothing even in the ballpark with SproutCore.
I think that the main difference between them is that SproutCore includes a GUI while the JMVC is something low-level without any graphic, so if you need a GUI you can't use JMVC without including other scripts like the jQuery UI or jQuery plugins.
You said that "JMVC might just be better because it doesn't try and do too much" i don't agree with this, it took years before SproutCore 1.0 was released, so developers had the time to make a great product.
I suggest you to use SproutCore, maybe you'll have to learn more things, you'll spend more time to practice and understand everything, but you'll learn how to use a very good framework that can be usefull also for future projects.
Sproutcore-2.0 eliminates the ui-constraints and plays nice with completely custom app-uis.
http://blog.sproutcore.com/announcing-sproutcore-2-0/
http://blog.sproutcore.com/dispatches-from-the-edge-dropping-in-a-sproutcore-2-0-application/
It seems that many of the JavaScript questions are answered by the simple use of pushing a library, without taking into account the person asking the question. I think libraries are great myself, but sometimes I think that we're too quick to throw a library down someone's throat.
Imagine a person asks a question and it's apparent that they barely know JavaScript. They're just using code they found and piecing it together with other code, and really have no firm foundation to work on. To add a library on top of that flimsy foundation seems like a disaster waiting to happen.
With that in mind, what JavaScript / programming / web browser concepts do you think are necessary to understand before a library/framework is introduced to a person? Should a framework / library be part of the learning process?
I don't think someone has to grasp absolutely everything to use a library, I just think some people would be better served with a "Library X might help solve your problems, but before you do that, you might want to read up on the following concepts", rather than just a "use library x" answer.
What you should learn are some fundamental programming techniques:
closures
continuations
function objects / what a "first class" function is
JavaScript object oriented design
difference between "prototype" languages and traditional Object Oriented languages
Absolutely firm grounding in HTML and CSS: standards, tricks, and various browser compatibility issues
UI Design Principals
With that in mind, today its practically impossible to develop without a library. I recommend Dojo but others use jQuery, YUI, etc...
When choosing a library, you need to have a firm understanding of what problem you are trying to solve. Is it browser abstraction? dealing with communication? charting? animations? graphics? UI toolkits?
Each library has its "niche", so you need to really know what you're specific problem domain is and in turn choose a library accordingly.
I would suggest using the brick and mortar kind of library and find a good book on JavaScript.
I think that one reflex reaction to a "how do implement X" is "don't reinvent then wheel", and this is generally good advice. I think that if you have to ask how to do something reasonably complex, and it's already in a library then you're going to waste massive time trying to piece together something from a few answers on SO.
So barring the obvious: learn the syntax of the language, learn how to debug etc., by and large a library is the right answer. And that's not just to say "Use the library, disengage brain" it also means "Study the library, look at the issues it's solving - you didn't realise your problem was so complex? Well the folks who put hours and days into the library studied the problem in some detail and probably developed the library by using it extendsively. Study the implementation and learen how."
I think that studying good code is a very good way to learn.
Libraries bring similarities to browsers where so much is different from browser to browser. This is why, I'd suspect, people suggest their usage in various answers. Nothing is stoping anyone from reading a good js book if they want to actually understand what is going on, but we surely cannot shove books and tutorials down anyone's throat. You need to want to learn before that would be worth anything.
They should read this http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596517742/wrrrldwideweb
And check out some of the links here http://www.crockford.com/
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First, a little background: I have written a little application in python with SQLAlchemy, which is roughly an improved RSS reader: it selects links that should interest the user, and shows them to him. I already have a very simple command-line interface, and I envision a variety of interfaces: web, instant-messaging, desktop...
For now I'd like to create a simple web interface, but I have absolutely zero experience in the matter (appart from making a simple php forum 5 or 6 years ago...). So I'm comming here for advice on where to start:
Is there a good tutorial on HTML/CSS/Javascript focused on making a website look good simply? I know about w3schools, but it's a terrible tutorial IMHO, since it teaches you about HTML/CSS but doesn't show you how to use them.
Should I use a javascript library? Which one?
Should I use a web framework? I'm guessing either not or a very lightweight one, since I already have an application core with a database and SQLAlchemy, and I don't want to drop it.
Any other advice?
Thanks!
I recommend that you use some kind of web framework, it will make things a lot easier. Since you already know Python you should look into Django framework. It seems that you can use SQLAlchemy with Django, see djange-sqlalchemy project.
I recommend using JQuery framework/library for Javascript stuff. It greatly simplifies coding and takes care of most web browser incompabilities.
This CSS tutorial seems to give you the basics.
I would start by reading the Django tutorial and start trying things out. I wouldn't worry too much about HTML stuff, you should be able to pick up enough from Django tutorial. Make your site first functional with HTML, Django and SQLAlchemy. Only then start worring about Javascript. Who knows, maybe you do not need Javascript at all?
Do not try make your site work and look good at the same time. When you are making your site work, use simple and ugly HTML pages. When you are making you web site look good, work only with static HTML pages and CSS files. It is easier to combine the two in the end.
Just like everyone else here, I'll chime in with "Use my favorite framework, because it's what I use...."
I would start with small goals for a web interface. Get something simple up and running that to make sure you understand how things work.
Write an app that responds to the following url and returns something.
http://localhost:8000/my_links
Once you understand the little bit of machinery it takes to make that possible, what is handed to you as far as information about the request, and what you need to produce to return to the caller, it should be come clear how to fill in the blanks to get from your existing application to data thrown at the web browser.
Learn WSGI for no other reason than most of the libraries that will help you build a web application utilize this to some degree.
One of the links from the above page that I found extremely beneficial in understanding how all this works. was Ian Bickings article "A Do-it Yourself Framework"
Once you get a grasp of that stuff, you may find that dealing with WSGI at such a low level is maybe a little too cumbersome. That's when you'll probably want something like WebOb
which is just one of several ways people have come up with for abstracting away the low level details of the request/response cycle into some convenient objects. In a sense encompassing the HTTP protocol without trying to make it make sense to someone who doesn't want to know what HTTP is.
Depending on the complexity of your application you may decide that handling a request, looking at the path and dispatching off to one of many functions is a drag you'd rather not deal with. This is where everyone's favorite framework starts to be beneficial. And I would suspect that you would know enough by this point to better assess the frameworks that are out there and determine which fits your needs and goals.
Lots prefer django, maybe you will too. Others prefer Turbogears, and or Pylons, maybe bfg, maybe grok, maybe zope, maybe plone. But no one here knows what you want your application to do.
It's an interestingly common mistake: all of the above answers provide technological advise on what's the best technology to do ... what exactly? You should work the other way around.
I think that if you want your application to be successful, you have to make sure it enables its users to get the most out of it in the most natural way to them.
Therefore, i suggest you first "storyline" how things should happen from a user's perspective. Use paper and pen, or more sophisticated wireframing tools such as balsamiq mockups.
So, first lay out what the experience should be, and this will tell you which technology will be the best choice to enable that experience.
Oh, and don't forget to read this.
HTML, CSS and JS Book: DHTML and CSS for the World Wide Web
Javascript Library: JQuery
Web Framework: Not sure, DJango?
Other Advice: Learn to write HTML, CSS, and JS in a a simple text editor with syntax highlighting. Complex IDE's are cool, but for this stuff, they will make you learn slower.
Web applications are not simple.
HTML and CSS: Head First HTML is probably a good starting point. The Head First series are usually excellent tutorials. As Josh said, write your pages by hand.
Javascript: you don't need this to get started. Maybe in a later version. When you have a better idea what you'll need Javascript for, you'll be better equipped to pick a library that suits your needs.
Web framework: You should probably start with Django. That's the opposite of a "very lightweight" framework, but in this context "lightweight" requires more expertise to make something polished. So it's a good idea to aim for "feature rich and well supported" instead.
Here is another option, I feel it's worth mentioning before making any decision.
As web framework I would advise web2py, it is very easy to setup and yet powerful. Here is a document showing the differences between Django, web2py and some others. It is somewhat old but will give you a good overview.
Since you have legacy code, if you really want to keep it there is a fair compatibility between the two although you should double-check. The easiest would be to adapt your code, of course, the differences aren't so big. But that's your call :-)
Regarding the Javascript library, probably jQuery.
The best introduction you could follow is the opera web standards curriculum. Some of the information will be too basic - but a full understanding of all the topics covered will give you a very good grounding.
http://www.opera.com/company/education/curriculum/
Alternatively team up with someone who specialises in front-end development.