Weekend Reader 45 - JavaScript

This weekend reader is purely focused on JavaScript.

It is long know that the JavaScript ecosystem is far from settled:

every javascript programmer I follow mentions at least five tools every day that I've never heard of before and never hear of again

— Gary Bernhardt (@garybernhardt) August 29, 2013

 

The last weeks were proving above trend in an impressive manner: The two major JavaScript frameworks AngularJS and EmberJS have announced their next versions.

 

Angular 2.0

At ng-europe the Angular team presented a first impression of the next version of Angular:

Almost nothing remains the same:

• No more controllers
• No more directive definition objects
• No more $scope
• No more angular modules
• AtScript: A new language on top of JavaScript

 

Here are some relevant links to get an overview of Angular 2.0:

• Angular 2.0 Core Presentation from ng-conf (video)
• Slides from above presentation
• Presentation about AtScript from ng-conf (video)
• Slides from above presentation
• All About Angular 2.0 from Rob Eisenberg

The changes are so striking that one could get the idea that the only thing remaining is actually the name of the framework.

The Angular 2.0 release is planned for end 2015/early 2016.

The reaction not only been positive:

Did Angular just commit suicide?

— Kevin Dente (@kevindente) October 29, 2014

I guess you guys aren't ready for Angular 2.0 yet…but your kids are gonna love it.

— I Am Devloper (@iamdevloper) October 30, 2014

 

And in the blogosphere: 

• Have the Angular Team lost their marbles? and discussion on redit
• Angular 2.0 announcement backfires
• “Screw You, Angular”

 

 

Ember 2.0

Also EmberJS, the “other” big JavaScript framework, announced its next version last week. However they chose quite another approach than the Angular team. Instead of surprising (shocking) the community with tons of changes, they establish a "RFC" (request for comments) process:

• Ember RFCs
• The Road to Ember 2.0 RFC

 

In contrast to AngularJS where the upgrade from 1.x to 2.0 will be a breaking change without a smooth transition, Ember aims for a smooth transition through a “steady flow of improvement”.

I am currently giving JavaScript and Angular Workshops to several companies here in Switzerland. Many big companies here are still trying to figure out how to integrate modern JavaScript frameworks in their development stack. Most of them are currently betting on AngularJS. Only very few of those companies are actually using AngularJS in production yet. I am curious what effect those recent announcements will have on the long term strategy of those companies.

 

React/Flux

Maybe there will be some traction to React/Flux. Here are some links to this “newcomer” in the space of frontend frameworks:

• The React framework
• The Flux Architecture 
• A nice Flux intro: Getting To Know Flux and Creating A Simple Shopping Cart with React.js and Flux

 

 

And if you don’t like big frameworks you can always use VanillaJS :-)

 

 

Java and JavaScript: A new romance

Java 8 contains Nashorn, a new JavaScript engine running on top of the JVM.

AdamBien held an interesting presentation at JavaOne showing the possibilities that open up with Nashorn:

 

Avatar 2.0

Oracle also presented Avatar 2.0 at JavaOne. Avatar.js is an attempt to bring the Node programming model and ecosystem to the Java platform. Project Avatar so far was an attempt to bcreate a JavaScript based platform (server and client side) on top of Java EE.
However the goal and purpose and the future of Project Avatar was unclear  during the last year.

Avatar 2.0 changes now quite a lot according to the blog post and presentation by Niko Köbler. The most significant change is certainly that it will run directly on the JVM without the need for a Java EE server.

Unfortunately there is no code or distribution available for Avatar 2.0 yet. I hope this will change soon ...

 

The Better Parts

The author of JavaScript: The Good Parts has revised a lot of his opinions since he wrote the book… talks by Douglas Crockford are always worth watching: