Backbone.js - an introduction

The JavaScript framework landscape changes at an incredibly rapid pace. While it's definitely no longer the new kid on the block, Backbone.js has been part of Drupal core for over three years (as of April 2016) now, and has a very mature developer community.

This session will take a introductory look at Backbone.js, and help front-end developers learn what it is, how and more importantly when it might come in handy. We'll cover Models, Collections, Views, and (briefly) the Router. After walking through the basics, we'll take a look at a well documented example application to see Backbone in action. With an understanding of the basics we'll then talk about a few of Backbone's weaknesses (especially in comparison to other frameworks like Ember.js and AngularJS).

By the end of this session attendees will have a solid understanding of Backbone.js basics, and the ability to make a more informed decision about whether or not it is the right fit for their site. This session will assume at least some experience with JavaScript, but will make no assumptions about the attendees familiarity with front-end libraries and frameworks.