When JavaScript first appeared on the scene way back in 1995, people were using it for fairly simple tasks such as form validation. These days, JavaScript has matured into a powerful language that, when coupled with HTML5 APIs like native video playback, drag-and-drop and the canvas element, allows you to build detailed, interactive user interfaces for your websites.
However, as you start to use JavaScript to build larger and larger web apps with complex data structures and rich user interfaces, it becomes clear that the JavaScript language alone is not really up to the task. Interacting directly with the DOM starts to get messy and tedious; JavaScript doesn’t have much in the way of data manipulation functions; its object model can cause headaches; and its syntax can get overly fussy.
Fortunately, some great JavaScript libraries have sprung up in recent years to make your life as a web developer much easier. In this article I’m going to focus on five fairly recent libraries and technologies that are starting to gain traction:
- Backbone, for adding structure to large JavaScript-based web apps.
- Underscore, a utility-belt library that adds functional programming features to JavaScript.
- Knockout, a great way to simplify your user interfaces.
- Sugar, which extends the JavaScript language with a wealth of useful methods.
- CoffeeScript, a language that compiles down to JavaScript and is really nice to work with.
With each library, you’ll get an overview of what it does and how it works, and I’ve also included some useful links for finding out more information.
Ready? Let’s go!