[LRUG] Which JavaScript framework?

[David Burrows]

There's a big difference between full fat frameworks like Angular/Ember
(think Rails) and more lightweight libraries like Backbone (think Sinatra).
TodoMVC is a great resource, probably a good idea to browse the code of
these examples first to get a feel for the various options -
http://addyosmani.github.com/todomvc/

If I was starting from scratch I'd probably look at Backbone first as it's
small enough to get your head round in a few days and the most popular
right now. Addy Osmani (who set up TodoMVC) has a free book that's a pretty
good overview (pdf here
https://github.com/addyosmani/backbone-fundamentals/blob/gh-pages/backbone-fundamentals.pdf?raw=true).
I'd definitely play around with it without Rails initially then move on to
Rails integration, there's plenty of info around on blogs etc. - there's
even a Thoughtbot book (
https://learn.thoughtbot.com/products/1-backbone-js-on-rails) though I
haven't read it.

If you want a more feature filled framework then it's probably a toss up
between Ember and Angular, they're both good. Ember is better from a
Rails integration point of view, not suprising as Yehuda Katz is behind
it. Angular is getting some traction and may be more language agnostic if
that's an issue.

The main problem is that this whole space is still a pretty new, there's
several design approaches and it's going to be a few more years before
there's a clear winner.

p.s. I've found Yeoman (http://yeoman.io/) really useful for setting up js
frameworks, well worth a look

-- 
David Burrows
079 1234 2125
@dburrows

http://www.designsuperbuild.com/ | @dsgnsprbld



On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 12:00 PM, Riccardo Tacconi <rtacconi at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I decided to learn a JavaScript MVC framework to update my Rails
> development skills. Many projects are using Rails to provide a RESTful API
> and a MVC JS framework to do the rest. Although I do not like much to use
> Rails as an API framework and a JS framework to develop the UI, I think
> just using jQuery in the traditional way it is not enough, not anymore.
> What I am saying is not new, but the problem is that we already have many
> JS frameworks. Backbone.js was probably the first one, but now we have
> Ember.js, Spine.js and Angular.js. I am sure there are more.
>
> My question is: which one to choose? Which one is the most
> popular? Angular.js makes sense to me, it seems quite simple and complete,
> Backbone.js seems to me a bit 'exotic', different from what I am used to.
> The simplest solution would be to use the Meteor framework, which makes
> easy to write an app using Javascript client and server side as they were
> just one thing... but I still love Ruby, at least for the backend.
>
> Since I am looking for a new job, I fear I will learn Angular.js and then
> an employer will ask me Backbone.js.
>
> What do you think?
>
> --
> Riccardo Tacconi
> Ruby on Rails and PHP development - System Administration
> VIRTUELOGIC LIMITED <http://virtuelogic.net/>
>
> http://github.com/rtacconi
> http://riccardotacconi.blogspot.com
> http://twitter.com/rtacconi
>
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>
>
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