AST’s and JavaScript: Write Code that Writes Code

July 24, 2017 by Leave a Comment

The adoption of abstract syntax trees in JavaScript has led to an explosion in tooling that has changed the landscape for developers.  The usage of ASTs allows JavaScript developers to better identify potential bugs before executing their code, as well as ensuring a consistent code quality across a codebase.  Their use in build tools has changed how we write our JavaScript applications by not only letting us target future specifications of the JavaScript language but also to compile non-spec compliant syntax (e.g. JSX) to JavaScript for use in the browser.  And by leveraging this data structure, developers can have 100% confidence in updating thousands of JavaScript files using an AST-based script by leveraging codemods.

While these tools carry a ton of power and potential, the use of code modification via AST manipulation scares off many developers.  The name itself will cause your average developer to scratch his head and proclaim, “Well, I’m not a Computer Science major so I don’t think a tool like that is for me.” However, given the current tooling available, AST manipulation is very approachable. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Javascript

Vue.js – The Next Library for Angular 1 Developers

April 3, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Angular is the most successful JavaScript framework ever. I cannot back this up with any numbers, but based on my experience as a developer over the past few years, it is everywhere. It is truly a complete framework, and it’s no wonder why it has achieved so much success in the industry. However, like all technology, it is quickly becoming dated, and new options have entered the fold.

Libraries like React and Angular 2+ have learned from their predecessors and employ strategies and optimizations that result in less code bloat and better performance.  These new-age frameworks also leverage bleeding edge development tools such as Webpack and Babel, which allow developers to utilize future standards (and non-standards) of the JavaScript language, resulting in increased productivity and cleaner code.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Frameworks, Javascript

Writing Node Applications as a .NET Developer – My experience in Developing in Node vs .NET/C# (Part 3)

November 1, 2016 by Leave a Comment

While the previous posts described what one needs to know prior to starting a Node project, what follows is some of my experiences that I came across while writing a Node application.  

How do I structure my project?

The main problem I had when developing my Node application was figuring out a sound application structure. As mentioned earlier, there is a significant difference between Node and C# when it comes to declaring file dependencies. C#’s using statement is more of a convenience feature for specifying namespaces and its compiler does the dirty work of determining what files and DLLs are required to compile a program. Node’s CommonJS module system explicitly imports a file or dependency into a dependent file at runtime. In C#, I generally inject a class’s dependencies via constructor injection, delegating object instantiation and resolution to an Inversion of Control container. In Javascript, however, I tend to write in a more functional manner where I write and pass around functions instead of stateful objects.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Javascript

Writing Node Applications as a .NET Developer – Getting Ready to Develop (Part 2)

August 10, 2016 by Leave a Comment

In the previous blog post, I provided a general overview of some the key differences between the two frameworks. With this out of the way we’re ready to get started writing an application. However, there are some key decisions to make regarding what development tools to use as well as getting the execution environment set up.

Selecting an IDE/Text Editor

Before I could write a line of code, I needed to decide on an IDE/Text Editor that I wanted to use to write my application. As a C# developer, I was spoiled with the number of features that Visual Studio offered a developer that allowed for a frictionless and productive developing experience. I wanted to have this same experience when writing a Node application so before deciding on an IDE, I had a few prerequisites:

  • Debugging capabilities built into the IDE
  • Unobtrusive and generally correct autocomplete
  • File navigation via symbols (CTRL + click in Visual Studio with Resharper extension)
  • Refactoring utilities that I could trust; Find/Replace wasn’t good enough

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Best Practice, Frameworks, Javascript

Writing Node Applications as a .NET Developer

July 27, 2016 by 1 Comment

As a .NET developer, creating modern web apps using Node on the backend can seem daunting.  The amount of tooling and setup required before you can write a “modern” application has resulted in the development community to display “Javascript Fatigue”; a general wariness related to the exploding amount of tooling, libraries, frameworks and best practices that are introduced on a seemingly daily basis.  Contrast this with building an app in .NET using Visual Studio where the developer simply selects a project template to build off of and they’re ready to go. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Best Practice, Design, Frameworks, Javascript