

Ask HN: Why all Backbone resources seem to be outdated? - cberrios

Hello. I&#x27;m self-studying to become a &quot;full stack&quot; web developer and I&#x27;ve chosen Backbone as the first frontend framework&#x2F;library to learn, since it&#x27;s small, widely used and plays well with React and other libraries&#x2F;frameworks.<p>However, I&#x27;ve found that most resources seem to be pretty outdated and it&#x27;s been hard to find any tutorial or course not using RequireJS or at least the &quot;newest&quot; Backbone features.<p>Can you recommend a good, updated path to learn Backbone, best if paired with React as the view layer?<p>Should I stick with learning Backbone or should I move to another library&#x2F;framework?<p>Is Backbone still in high demand, will it still be between now and the next year?<p>Thank you for your answers and opinions.
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PhrosTT
As people are saying, the source is a great way to start.... Although I landed
on many best practices through trial and error.

Marionette ([http://marionettejs.com/](http://marionettejs.com/)) will maybe
help you see its shortcomings (since it fills those gaps, although I don't
personally use it).

Some pro tips:

* Figure out how sync works (when save() calls POST vs. PUT).

* Figure out how this.el works

* Learn the difference between router.navigate('/fun') and router.navigate('/fun', { trigger: true }).

* Learn the difference between url() and urlRoot(), and step through the backbone code with the chrome debugger as it determines a model's URL.

* Look at what delegateEvents() does.

* Learn about .listenTo() and how .remove() can alleviate view zombies.

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cberrios
thank you, I've ready Addy Osmani's book but I think I didn't grasp some of
those concepts well.

About Marionette, I started searching for resources and most current blog
posts seem to be about moving from Marionette to React so I'm not sure if I'm
learning it.

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hackerio
Backbone might not be the cool kid anymore (maybe React is).

I found it to be a good framework for small apps (not those single page JS
application).

While I was learning Backbone I didn't find any really good tutorial, but
eventually I figure out an usage and style which suits me.

At times I do wish Backbone would be a "complete and opinionated framework",
but I figured out a way to use it to build small UI components. I didn't use
the Router components, but combination of model and view does wonder.

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cberrios
I hope I find some enlightenment. Have you looked at Brisket or Rendr?

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hackerio
Nope. Backbone suits my current usage well. When I need to do Single Page App,
I am tempted to look into React.

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ricardobeat
The library itself is so small you can simply read through the annotated
source in half an hour:
[http://backbonejs.org/docs/backbone.html](http://backbonejs.org/docs/backbone.html)

There is a trend towards more complete frameworks, but Backbone is still in
use by many high-profile companies. Learning how it works is a small
investment of time, and should give you nice insights for understanding larger
& more complex projects.

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cberrios
Thank you, that's my original idea.

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UweSchmidt
Surely the quality and freshness of the documentation is a function of the
momentum and support a certain technology has. Maybe you can find a similar
tech that has tutorials that really appeal to you, that feel like they open a
door to a wonderful new world?

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cberrios
My idea is learning Ampersand once I fully understand Backbone, but I haven't
seen other prominent micro frameworks/libraries with relevant number of job
postings.

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wmf
Backbone is small because it doesn't do that much. After learning Backbone I
regretted wasting so much time learning how to do simple things like nest
views correctly. Backbone made me really long for a complete and opinionated
framework.

~~~
cberrios
Any recommendations?

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kapilkaisare
Sencha gets a lot of flak, but IMO it is the most mature, built out framework
you can get. You get, out of the box:

1\. MVC/MVVM structuring

2\. a DOM abstraction, which albeit requiring a lot of learning, works once
you grok how to use it (something that can only unfortunately come with
experience)

3\. Touch driven gestures

4\. History and repetitive task management

5\. A grid view that's unparalleled in the market.

And that's just for starters. It's downsides include a steep learning curve
and a classical inheritance model, but those should hardly be blockers to
anyone willing to invest the time it demands.

