Brief Intro to Backbone

and why we are using it

Created by Gokul Kavaturi

What is JavaScript..?

  • JavaScript is not a spin-off of Java
  • Prototype based scripting language
  • Rules and revisions are governed through ECMAScript standards

Web Applications

in late 90s and early 00s

Diagram showing http requests

Pages had to be refreshed to show new content

Web Applications mid 00's

Diagram showing http requests

XMLHttp Requests - Asynchoronus data exchange

Web Applications mid 00's

Diagram showing http requests

Too many http requests with small payloads crowding the network

Web applications now

Diagram showing http requests

Preserving State on the client side

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Front end MVC frameworks

  • Angular
  • Backbone
  • Ember
  • Meteor

Dependecies

  • DOM interaction library - jQuery/YUI/Mootools
  • Templating Engine - Underscore/Mustache/LoDash


Some frameworks like Angular have no dependencies and provide all the features

What is Backbone.js

  • It gives structure to applications
  • Decreases direct access to HTML
  • Provides a way to store state (data) in the web browser without using HTML

When is it good to use a framework like Backbone ???

Data

+

Interaction

Pros

  • Very lighweight and flexible
  • UI, Backend, Platform - Agnostic
  • Transparent Source

Cons

  • Lacks ready made features
  • Needs hacking for advanced usage
  • Programmer has to do most of the work or implement other libraries on top of it

    • THE END