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How to start with Backbone.js: A simple skeleton app

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Re: How to start with Backbone.js: A simple skeleton app

#21

Post by platz »

kyllo wrote: post #11
king_magic wrote: post #2

"How to start with Backbone.js: A simple skeleton app" first sentence: "You need a solid knowledge of JavaScript, familiarity with Backbone, Ruby, HAML, SASS and CoffeeScript to find this writeup useful." Feels like an awful lot of prereqs for a starter. I don't expect to be spoon-fed JavaScript basics, but I feel like too many Backbone guides presume some understanding of Backbone before starting with something that…

AFAIK you don't necessarily need to use HAML, SASS, and CoffeeScript in order to use Backbone. They are tools that you can "plug in" to your web application to make you more productive, but I think they deserve separate treatment. And you need a server but it doesn't have to be Sinatra or anything written in Ruby. But Sinatra is as good a choice as any. If you're going to study Backbone, it might be better to just st…

"If you're going to study Backbone, it might be better to just study Backbone"

I agree.

Re: How to start with Backbone.js: A simple skeleton app

#22

Post by jtchang »

blissofbeing wrote: post #6

I use AngularJS for everything now, I find it much easier to use and more convient than backbone.

Why the hell is this comment on the bottom?

I started with backbone and was like...wtf is this. Then I went to knockout and it is what I am using now. I used Angular in a pet project a few weeks ago and was totally blown away at how easy it was. Angular is more suited to projects where you use it from the get go. I really like knockout because it is good to integrate in existing projects.

Re: How to start with Backbone.js: A simple skeleton app

#24

Post by davemo »

This 3-part series [1] on building a wine-cellar app (basic CRUD, REST, etc..) with Backbone is a great place to start if you've never done anything with Backbone before.

The code is available on github [2], the author is clear and concise, and there are a number of back ends supported (node/express, php/slim, java/jersey).

[1] http://coenraets.org/blog/2011/12/backbone-js-wine-cellar-tu...

[2] https://github.com/ccoenraets/backbone-cellar

Re: How to start with Backbone.js: A simple skeleton app

#26

Post by mihar »

jashkenas wrote: post #8

To echo other comments in this thread -- if you're a beginner just looking to get started with a Backbone app, this may not be the best "skeleton". If you look at the GitHub repo: https://github.com/mihar/backbone-skeleton/ ... you'll find a somewhat odd scaffold that doesn't give you much more than a raw Sinatra app with Backbone included on a page -- but will probably feel far more confusing, with the inclusion of…

I agree that this not an optimal start point for someone who just heard of Backbone.js.

I do think, though, that if someone will still be a bit confused how to stitch things together after reading and poking around for a while, this sort of skeleton could provide just enough insight.

I released this as something that seemed useful to me and in that context should be useful to at least someone else.

If you're unfamiliar with the Ruby world, the usefulness somewhat disappears, but that's said in the prerequisites.

Re: How to start with Backbone.js: A simple skeleton app

#27

Post by mihar »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #14

God, there are a billion Todo and Skeleton apps and hardly any that give you the principles to build a serious Backbone.js app. It's great, minimal, flexible and incredibly easy to use in a backward and convoluted way if you don't have something good to guide you. Also, throwing HAML, SASS, Coffeescript, autogeneration and more into this makes this just... that much less useful.

I agree. Less useful for you, more useful for someone who likes HAML, SASS and CoffeeScript.

Re: How to start with Backbone.js: A simple skeleton app

#28

Post by pilgrim689 »

Kiro wrote: post #23
blissofbeing wrote: post #6

I use AngularJS for everything now, I find it much easier to use and more convient than backbone.

I see these comments in every Backbone thread and no-one seems to disagree. Is Backbone that bad?

It's not bad... it's just much more light-weight (essentially). So, the bigger the project, the more you're going to feel Backbone strain relative to AngularJS. However, for small projects, you probably don't need such big guns... but if you can afford shipping AngularJS to the clients anyway, why not?

You can see the different styles for yourself for a very basic web application (and try to extrapolate what it would look like for large ones): http://addyosmani.github.com/todomvc/

Re: How to start with Backbone.js: A simple skeleton app

#29

Post by kjbekkelund »

thisisdallas wrote: post #19
marekmroz wrote: post #12

I am currently reading Addy Osmani's "Developing Backbone.js Applications" and like how it begins with explaining the basic concepts. As a js mvc framework beginner I find it useful and would recommend it. You can find it here: http://addyosmani.github.com/backbone-fundamentals/ For people who prefer learning from screencasts the material from TutsPlus is also good.

Thank you so much for this! I am trying to start learning Backbone and I am finding it difficult to find a lot of information for beginners. This looks like a great start.

This might be a good start if you're just starting out with Backbone: https://github.com/kjbekkelund/writings/blob/master/publishe...

Re: How to start with Backbone.js: A simple skeleton app

#30

Post by camus »

dangrossman wrote: post #5

In the same spirit of releasing the code of a working Backbone app for beginners, I wrote and open sourced a visual bookmark organizer a while back. It's no masterpiece, but it has more working parts than the typical TODO tutorial -- http://bookmarkly.com https://github.com/dangrossman/Bookmarkly

neat thanks.
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