What's Inside
Rapid Prototyping with JS: Agile JavaScript Development is a hands-on book which introduces you to agile JavaScript web and mobile software development using the latest cutting-edge front-end and back-end technologies including:
- Node.js
- MongoDB
- Backbone.js
- Parse.com
- Heroku
- Windows Azure
Practical Examples
Practical examples include building multiple versions of the Chat app:
- jQuery + Parse.com JS REST API
- Backbone and Parse.com JS SDK
- Backbone and Node.js
- Backbone and Node.js + MongoDB
The Chat application has all the foundation of a typical web/mobile application: fetching data, displaying it, submitting new data.
Other examples in the book as follows:
- jQuery + Twitter RESP API “Tweet Analyzer”
- Parse.com “Save John”
- Node.js “Hello World”
- MongoDB “Print Collections”
- Derby + Express “Hello World”
- Backbone.js “Hello World”
- Backbone.js “Apple Database”
- Monk + Expres.js “REST API Server”
This book will save you many hours by providing the hand-picked and tested colletion of quick start guides. RPJS has practical examples that allow to spend less time learning and more time building your own applications. Prototype fast and ship code that matters!
More info at http://rpjs.co, and also available fro LeanPub at https://leanpub.com/rapid-prototyping-with-js.
Why RPJS?
This book was borne out of frustration. I have been in software engineering for many years, and when I
started learning Node.js and Backbone.js, I learned the hard way that their official documentation and the
Internet lack in quick start guides and examples. Needless to say, it was virtually impossible to find all of the
tutorials for JS-related modern technologies in one place.
The best way to learn is to do, right? Therefore, I’ve used the approach of small simple examples, i.e., quick start
guides, to expose myself to the new cool tech. After I was done with the basic apps, I needed some references
and organization. I started to write this manual mostly for myself, so I can understand the concepts better
and refer to the samples later. Then StartupMonthly and I taught a few 2-day intensive classes on the same
subject — helping experienced developers to jump-start their careers with agile JavaScript development. The
manual we used was updated and iterated many times based on the feedback received. The end result is this
book.
What to Expect
A typical reader of RPJS should expect a collection of quick start guides, tutorials and suggestions (e.g., Git
workflow). There is a lot of coding and not much theory. All the theory we cover is directly related to some of the practical aspects, and essential for better understanding of technologies and specific approaches in dealing
with them, e.g., JSONP and cross-domain calls.
In addition to coding examples, the book covers virtually all setup and deployment step-by-step.
You’ll learn on the examples of Chat web/mobile applications starting with front-end components. There are
a few versions of these applications, but by the end we’ll put front-end and back-end together and deploy to
the production environment. The Chat application contains all of the necessary components typical for a basic
web app, and will give you enough confidence to continue developing on your own, apply for a job/promotion
or build a startup!
