Converting an existing Backbone.js project to Require.js
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Converting an existing Backbone.js project to Require.js
1–10 of 34 posts
Re: Converting an existing Backbone.js project to Require.js
#2I thought Backbone and Require were 2 separate things?
Re: Converting an existing Backbone.js project to Require.js
#3Yeah or you could start with YUI and have real dependency management from the start.
Re: Converting an existing Backbone.js project to Require.js
#4I thought Backbone and Require were 2 separate things?
They are. A better headline would have been something like "refactoring an existing backbone.js project to use require.js". His project still uses backbone.js, but now it also uses require.js.
Re: Converting an existing Backbone.js project to Require.js
#5I'm really puzzled by the enthusiasm around RequireJS. I've read up on it, I've built several large JS applications (~100 models, views, whatevers in ExtJS and Knockout), have been involved with a large BackboneJS/RequireJS application and am currently rebuilding a large site in AngularJS. AFAICT, RequireJS did not solve any problems that I had more easily solved with proper namespacing (yes, the feared global, e.g. TheProject.controllers.chrome.SessionController) or that AngularJS doesn't solve more gracefully.
Instead, RequireJS yielded a fairly verbose and error-prone header* coupled with large and distinct JS downloads for each and every page. Add in Backbone's verbosity and it's boilerplate and hand-wiring all the way down. Just the kind of thing for when you want to handcraft an artisan website, but not so great for cranking out code.
* Good luck catching typos when you're pulling in 20 modules and you lose synchronization between the strings and the vars. Here's a simple example:
define([
'jquery',
'handlebars',
'backbone',
'mymodel',
'mycontrolleranimals',
'mycontrollerpeople',
'myview_cats',
'myview_dogs',
'myview_birds'
],
function(
$,
Handlebars,
Backbone,
MyModel,
MyControllerAnimals,
MyControllerPeople,
MyViewDogs,
MyViewCats,
MyViewBirds) {
To be perfectly honest, I didn't build the system, so don't that it was configured correctly.
Re: Converting an existing Backbone.js project to Require.js
#6I'm really puzzled by the enthusiasm around RequireJS. I've read up on it, I've built several large JS applications (~100 models, views, whatevers in ExtJS and Knockout), have been involved with a large BackboneJS/RequireJS application and am currently rebuilding a large site in AngularJS. AFAICT, RequireJS did not solve any problems that I had more easily solved with proper namespacing (yes, the feared global , e.g.…
Think about using two different versions of ExtJS, it's just not possible atm. because of globals.
You should look into Dojo Toolkit source code, which now is almost entirely built on AMD.
Regarding "distinct JS downloads for each and every page": again, look at Dojo Toolkit source code and its build system.
Re: Converting an existing Backbone.js project to Require.js
#7I'm really puzzled by the enthusiasm around RequireJS. I've read up on it, I've built several large JS applications (~100 models, views, whatevers in ExtJS and Knockout), have been involved with a large BackboneJS/RequireJS application and am currently rebuilding a large site in AngularJS. AFAICT, RequireJS did not solve any problems that I had more easily solved with proper namespacing (yes, the feared global , e.g.…
Luckily there's an alternative syntax for requiring modules:
define(function (require) {
'use strict';
var Backbone = require('backbone');
var Handlebars = require('lib/handlebars/handlebars');
var someTemplate = require('text!component/templates/some-template.hbs');
Re: Converting an existing Backbone.js project to Require.js
#8I'm really puzzled by the enthusiasm around RequireJS. I've read up on it, I've built several large JS applications (~100 models, views, whatevers in ExtJS and Knockout), have been involved with a large BackboneJS/RequireJS application and am currently rebuilding a large site in AngularJS. AFAICT, RequireJS did not solve any problems that I had more easily solved with proper namespacing (yes, the feared global , e.g.…
Hrm.... I don't think the angular documentation agrees with what you are saying: In the documentation on the $inject annotation:
> Care must be taken that the $inject annotation is kept in sync with the actual arguments in the function declaration.
> This method of annotation is useful for controller declarations since it assigns the annotation information with the function.
Re: Converting an existing Backbone.js project to Require.js
#9I'm really puzzled by the enthusiasm around RequireJS. I've read up on it, I've built several large JS applications (~100 models, views, whatevers in ExtJS and Knockout), have been involved with a large BackboneJS/RequireJS application and am currently rebuilding a large site in AngularJS. AFAICT, RequireJS did not solve any problems that I had more easily solved with proper namespacing (yes, the feared global , e.g.…
Use this syntax, IMHO it's a LOT more readable:
define(function(require) {
var $ = require('jquery'),
Handlebars = require('handlebars'),
Backbone = require('backbone'),
MyModel = require('mymodel'),
MyControllerAnimals = require('mycontrolleranimals');
Re: Converting an existing Backbone.js project to Require.js
#10I'm really puzzled by the enthusiasm around RequireJS. I've read up on it, I've built several large JS applications (~100 models, views, whatevers in ExtJS and Knockout), have been involved with a large BackboneJS/RequireJS application and am currently rebuilding a large site in AngularJS. AFAICT, RequireJS did not solve any problems that I had more easily solved with proper namespacing (yes, the feared global , e.g.…
as someone refactoring a name spaced project into a requirejs one. Thw big benefit is more or less lexical scope for each page and cleaner entry amd exit points for the parts. Its easy to tell if changes to x break y if y has to import x