My Interview On SitePoint About Backbone.js And Backbone Fundamentals

Episode 145 of The SitePoint Podcast is now available. This week interview host Louis Simoneau (@rssaddict) interviews me about Backbone.js and the free online book I'm in the progress of writing about the fundamentals of using it to organize your JavaScript applications.

(I hope it's not *too* bad!) It lasts about 30 minutes. For anyone interested in the iTunes feed for the same, you can grab it from here. The original post for the podcast is up on SitePoint.

For anyone that missed it, you may also be interested in my post explaining MVC and MVP targeted at Backbone and JavaScript developers.

Understanding MVC And MVP (For JavaScript And Backbone Developers)

Read Later

Last updated: 16th Jan, 2012. Before exploring any JavaScript frameworks that assist in structuring applications, it can be useful to gain a basic understanding of architectural design patterns. Design patterns are proven solutions to common development problems and can suggest … Continue reading →

Backbone Fundamentals – A Free Work-In-Progress Book For Developers Of All Levels

Read Later

About a week ago, I began working on a new article about Backbone.js. It was due to cover some concepts and insights intermediate or advanced users might appreciate, but I found myself wanting to reference topics beginners might need to … Continue reading →

Polyfilling The HTML5 Gaps With JavaScript

Read Later

We all want to use the hot new features being implemented in modern browsers right away, but there's a small problem holding us back: how can we use these great new capabilities whilst ensuring older browsers still render pages and … Continue reading →

Large-scale JavaScript Application Architecture

Read Later

Developers creating JavaScript applications these days usually use a combination of MVC, modules, widgets and plugins for their architecture. They also use a DOM manipulation library like jQuery. Whilst this works great for apps that are built at a smaller-scale, … Continue reading →

About

I just really dig JavaScript. I'm a writer, speaker and a JavaScript developer for AOL (yes, we're still around!).

I'm also a member of the jQuery core [Bug Triage/Docs/Learning] teams where I (try) to assist with bugs, documentation and developer evangelism. Some of my other OS work has included contributions to Modernizr and other similar projects.

My personal OS projects include jQuery UI Bootstrap and TodoMVC, which helps developers compare JavaScript MVC frameworks. I've also written 'Backbone Fundamentals' and 'Essential JavaScript Design Patterns' and occasionally tech review books like 'JavaScript Web Applications'.

Fundamentals

First do it, then do it right, then do it fast. This is one fundamental I always keep in mind when developing anything.

If you're a developer wishing to learn something new, regardless of skill-level, remember that as important as it is to read, it's equally as important to get out there and *do*.

Create a new gist or fiddle, pop open the console and experiment. It's effing fun.

Finally, try to be open to constructive criticism - none of us know everything and at worst, you might just learn something new that will help you become a better developer.

Friends

I feel honored to have quite a few friends, many of who are spread across the world but remain active and passionate at what they do.

Thanks to @mathias and @jdalton for giving us jsPerf, @divya, @necolas and @paul_irish for h5bp, @peolanha for always being available for a tech review, @jaubourg for just being awesome, the guys at @bocoup for their constant badassery and the rest of the OT-crew for being ah-mazing.

Last but not least, thanks to @elleohellez for understanding my obsession with the web and being the best a guy could ask for.