JavaScript Craftmanship MeetUp

Still on a search to understand the state of HTML5/CCS/JavaScript tooling.

I attended a presentation by Justin Searls called “JavaScript Craftsmanship”.  It was hosted by the Columbus Polyglot Programmers Group.  There were 30+ js developers there.  Justin gave a great presentation on how JavaScript work is perceived, why JavaScript craftsmanship is in such a poor state.  He then dove in with some useful info on Jasmine unit testing and a Jasmine plugin for maven that Justin wrote.  The maven/jasmine project is here.  And he’s created a nice archetype project that creates a little test js project with Jasmine unit tests here.  It’s great to get something up and running in a few minutes.

We ended with engaged group discussion regarding issues js work faces: including language quirks, project management focus on server-side quality, and the 20 different ways to create a class.

There was a little talk of tools.  Or lack of tools.  One person had tried NetBeans, one person mentioned js-Eclipse as working nicely, 2 mentioned Aptana, the rest are using text editors of various kinds.  As someone who transitioned from finding IDEs an interference to relying on them as a productivity tool, I am still amazed that js tooling is so immature in 2010 that a text editor is the most efficient way to develop.  It was interesting that most use TDD in their daily work, but few use TDD specifically in their js work.

As HTML5/CSS/Javascript continues to take off, and as people expect rich apps in their browser and their mobile devices, the focus on js will change.  And tooling will improve.

Notes: Unit Test Framework

Selenium – record and playback tool.  Standard problems with record and playback– time spent re-recording/updating tests.

Many abandoned js unit test frameworks out there.  jsUnit is used by many but is not actively developed.  The 3 active ones are

• jasmine – Justin’s preferred.  Runs on HTMLUnit.  Behavior Driven Development.
• jsTestRunner – runs on real browsers, has IDE plugins including Eclipse plugin, cumbersome setup
• qunit (jquery project)

Notes: Craftsmanship tools people find useful

• jsLint
• jsCoverage

Notes: Learning Resources

• JavaScript – The Good Parts – Crockford
• Pro JavaScript – Resig
• js koans – like Ruby koans. Learn functional js.

Notes: Some other things to check out

• SproutCore Framework , GreenHouse – open source platform for building scalable rich HTML5/js apps
• Eich, JSConf 2010 Future of ECMAScript5/JS
• w3c – downloadable HTML validator.