Programming practice and techniques for javascript

[Kathleen Angeles]

Hi All,

Has anyone seen any good book on designing/coding javascript programs?

Having coded in java, I see a lot of places where an error (misspell, type safety, etc.) can occur in javascript, where it wouldnt in java.

E.g. good practices like encapsulating methods or the same encapsulation that objects/classes offer in java.

Hi Elliot,

Has you book touched on this? Or maybe the majority of the book?

Having a lot of power on the front-end, with html 5, etc. the application written in javascript will grow big quickly. Organization is a requirement not just an ideal.


- k

[Eric Elliott]

Hi Kathleen,

This is what my book is all about. As for concerns about errors, JavaScript has some really great tooling to help prevent and discover errors:

* JSLint / JSHint - discover syntax and style issues
* Unit testing - A good practice no matter what language you develop in, unit tests will help you make changes to your code with confidence, knowing that if any of your changes break major functionality, you'll know about it quickly.
* Chrome debugging tools - From stepping through the callstack to profiling memory, network, and painting operations, Chrome's debugging tools have got you covered.
* Tern - Code intelligence for JavaScript on par with the kind of intelligence you'd expect in a strictly-typed language.
* Trace.gl - visualize the entire code-flow execution of your program in realtime. Zoom in on specific methods, inspect variable values, explore the call-stack, all while your program is running live.

JavaScript tooling has really come a long way, and it's improving at an exponential rate. As the most popular programming on the planet, JavaScript has a significant advantage in this area. A lot of people have an interest in seeing the development process improve, and with all that momentum behind it, you can be sure that even better tools are right around the corner.

[Kathleen Angeles]

I think your book will be a great material to have. Good luck! (and to me too, hope I win).

[Kathleen Angeles]

Hi Eric,

I also checked the table of contents in Oreilly website. I think the list is great, and this is the book that I really need.

Basically, something like 'enterprise javascript development'.

Is that basically what you were targetting - a book like enterprise development with javascript in the middle?

edit: when i say enterprise, i probably mean all stuff going on in the front-end that involves javascript.