AngularJS vs. Ember.js vs. Backbone.js

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@markbates

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KODIO13www.metacasts.tv

AngularJS vs. Ember vs. Backbone.js

Knockout.js

philosophies

Backbone.js

“minimal set of data-structure and view primitives for building web application with JavaScript”

Backbone.js

do what you want, however you want to do it

(we won’t tell anyone)

“framework for creating ambitious web applications”

convention over configuration

AngularJS

“Toolset for building the framework most suited to your application development”

AngularJS

plain old JavaScript

Round 1

weight

“production” versions (minified) w/ required dependencies

AngularJS Ember Backbone.js

base 81kb 235kb 6.4kb

templating language built-in73kb

(handlebars) ??

data adapter built-in210kb

(ember-data)32kb

(jQuery)

support N/A32kb

(jQuery)

17kb (json2.js)

4.9kb (underscore.js)

81kb 550kb 60.3kb

Round 2

“basic” models

Backbone.js

class App.Beer extends Backbone.Model class App.Beers extends Backbone.Collection !

model: Beer

App.Beer = DS.Model.extend title: DS.attr("string") abv: DS.attr("number") country_id: DS.attr("number") brewery_id: DS.attr("number") brewery: DS.belongsTo("App.Brewery") country: DS.belongsTo("App.Country")

AngularJS

App.Beer = {}

“remote” models

Backbone.jsclass App.Beer extends Backbone.Model urlRoot: "/api/v1/beers" class App.Beers extends Backbone.Collection url: -‐> if @brewery_id? return "/api/v1/breweries/#{@brewery_id}/beers" else return "/api/v1/beers" model: Beer

App.Beer = DS.Model.extend title: DS.attr("string") abv: DS.attr("number") country_id: DS.attr("number") brewery_id: DS.attr("number") brewery: DS.belongsTo("App.Brewery") country: DS.belongsTo("App.Country")

EmberDS.RESTAdapter.reopen namespace: 'api/v1' App.Store = DS.Store.extend revision: 11 adapter: DS.RESTAdapter.create()

AngularJS

App.factory "Beer", ($resource) -‐> return $resource "/api/v1/beers/:id", {id: "@id"}, {update: {method: "PUT"}}

Round 3

routers

Backbone.js@Router = Backbone.Router.extend initialize: -‐> @countries = new Countries() routes: "breweries/:brewery_id": "brewery" "breweries/:brewery_id/edit": "breweryEdit" brewery: (brewery_id) -‐> @changeView(new BreweryView(collection: @countries, model: new Brewery(id: brewery_id))) breweryEdit: (brewery_id) -‐> @changeView(new BreweryEditView(collection: @countries, model: new Brewery(id: brewery_id))) changeView: (view) => @currentView?.remove() @currentView = view $("#outlet").html(@currentView.el)

App.Router.map -‐> @resource "brewery", {path: "brewery/:brewery_id"}

App.BreweryRoute = Ember.Route.extend model: (params)-‐> App.Brewery.find(params.brewery_id)

AngularJSApp.config ($routeProvider) -‐> $routeProvider .when("/breweries/:id", { templateUrl: "/assets/brewery.html", controller: "BreweryController" }) .when("/breweries/:id/edit", { templateUrl: "/assets/edit_brewery.html", controller: "EditBreweryController" })

Round 4

controllers/views

Backbone.jsclass @BreweryEditView extends Backbone.View template: "brewery_edit" events: "click #save-‐button": "saveClicked" "keypress #brewery-‐title": "titleEdited" initialize: -‐> super @countriesView = new CountriesView(collection: @collection) @$el.html(@countriesView.el) @model.on "change", @render @model.fetch() render: => @$("#country-‐outlet").html(@renderTemplate()) return @

saveClicked: (e) => e?.preventDefault() attrs = title: @$("#brewery-‐title").val() synonyms: @$("#brewery-‐synonyms").val() address: @$("#brewery-‐address").val() @model.save attrs, success: (model, response, options) => App.navigate("/breweries/#{@model.id}", trigger: true) error: (model, xhr, options) -‐> errors = [] for key, value of xhr.responseJSON.errors errors.push "#{key}: #{value.join(", ")}" alert errors.join("\n") titleEdited: (e) => title = @$("#brewery-‐title").val() @$("h2").text(title) ! # further code omitted

App.BreweryController = Ember.ObjectController.extend save: -‐> @store.commit() # further code omitted

AngularJS

@EditBreweryController = ($scope, $routeParams, $location, Brewery) -‐> $scope.brewery = Brewery.get(id: $routeParams.id) $scope.save = -‐> success = -‐> $location.path("/breweries/#{$routeParams.id}") $scope.errors = null failure = (object)-‐> $scope.errors = object.data.errors $scope.brewery.$update {}, success, failure

Round 5

templates

Backbone.js<h2><%= @model.displayName() %></h2> <form> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="title">Title</label> <div class="controls"> <input type='text' class='input-‐xxlarge' value='<%= @model.get("title") %>'id='brewery-‐title'> </div> </div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="synonyms">Synonyms</label> <div class="controls"> <input type='text' class='input-‐xxlarge' value='<%= @model.get("synonyms") %>'id='brewery-‐synonyms'> </div> </div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="address">Address</label> <div class="controls"> <textarea class='input-‐xxlarge' id='brewery-‐address'><%= @model.get("address") %></textarea> </div> </div> <button class='btn btn-‐primary' id='save-‐button'>Save</button> <a href="/breweries/<%= @model.id %>" class='btn'>Cancel</a> </form>

Backbone.js<h2><%= @model.displayName() %></h2> <form> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="title">Title</label> <div class="controls">

<input type='text' class='input-‐xxlarge' value='<%= @model.get("title") %>'id='brewery-‐title'> </div> </div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="synonyms">Synonyms</label> <div class="controls"> <input type='text' class='input-‐xxlarge' value='<%= @model.get("synonyms") %>'id='brewery-‐synonyms'> </div> </div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="address">Address</label> <div class="controls"> <textarea class='input-‐xxlarge' id='brewery-‐address'><%= @model.get("address") %></textarea> </div> </div> <button class='btn btn-‐primary' id='save-‐button'>Save</button> <a href="/breweries/<%= @model.id %>" class='btn'>Cancel</a> </form>

<input type='text' class='input-‐xxlarge' value='<%= @model.get("title") %>'id='brewery-‐title'>

Backbone.js<h2><%= @model.displayName() %></h2> <form> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="title">Title</label> <div class="controls"> <input type='text' class='input-‐xxlarge' value='<%= @model.get("title") %>'id='brewery-‐title'> </div> </div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="synonyms">Synonyms</label> <div class="controls"> <input type='text' class='input-‐xxlarge' value='<%= @model.get("synonyms") %>'id='brewery-‐synonyms'> </div> </div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="address">Address</label> <div class="controls">

<textarea class='input-‐xxlarge' id='brewery-‐address'><%= @model.get("address") %></textarea> </div> </div> <button class='btn btn-‐primary' id='save-‐button'>Save</button> <a href="/breweries/<%= @model.id %>" class='btn'>Cancel</a> </form>

<div class='span12'> <h2>{{displayName}}</h2> <h3> {{cityState}} {{#linkTo "country" country}} {{country.title}} {{/linkTo}} </h3> {{#if isEditing}} <form> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="title">Title</label> <div class="controls"> {{view Ember.TextField valueBinding="title" class='input-‐xxlarge'}} </div> </div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="synonyms">Synonyms</label> <div class="controls"> {{view Ember.TextField valueBinding="synonyms" class='input-‐xxlarge'}} </div> </div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="synonyms">Synonyms</label> <div class="controls"> {{view Ember.TextArea valueBinding="address" class='input-‐xxlarge'}} </div> </div> <button class='btn btn-‐primary' {{action "save"}}>Save</button> </form> {{ else }} {{ partial "brewery/show" }} {{/if}} </div>

<div class='span12'> <h2>{{displayName}}</h2> <h3> {{cityState}} {{#linkTo "country" country}} {{country.title}} {{/linkTo}} </h3> {{#if isEditing}} <form> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="title">Title</label> <div class="controls">

{{view Ember.TextField valueBinding="title" class='input-‐xxlarge'}} </div> </div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="synonyms">Synonyms</label> <div class="controls"> {{view Ember.TextField valueBinding="synonyms" class='input-‐xxlarge'}} </div> </div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="synonyms">Synonyms</label> <div class="controls"> {{view Ember.TextArea valueBinding="address" class='input-‐xxlarge'}} </div> </div> <button class='btn btn-‐primary' {{action "save"}}>Save</button> </form> {{ else }} {{ partial "brewery/show" }} {{/if}} </div>

{{view Ember.TextField valueBinding="title" class='input-‐xxlarge'}}

<div class='span12'> <h2>{{displayName}}</h2> <h3> {{cityState}} {{#linkTo "country" country}} {{country.title}} {{/linkTo}} </h3> {{#if isEditing}} <form> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="title">Title</label> <div class="controls"> {{view Ember.TextField valueBinding="title" class='input-‐xxlarge'}} </div> </div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="synonyms">Synonyms</label> <div class="controls"> {{view Ember.TextField valueBinding="synonyms" class='input-‐xxlarge'}} </div> </div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="synonyms">Synonyms</label> <div class="controls"> {{view Ember.TextArea valueBinding="address" class='input-‐xxlarge'}} </div> </div>

<button class='btn btn-‐primary' {{action "save"}}>Save</button> </form> {{ else }} {{ partial "brewery/show" }} {{/if}} </div>

<form> <h3>{{brewery.title}}</h3> <div ng-‐include='"/assets/_errors.html"'></div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="title">Title</label> <div class="controls"> <input type='text' class='input-‐xxlarge' ng-‐model='brewery.title'> </div> </div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="synonyms">Synonyms</label> <div class="controls"> <input type='text' class='input-‐xxlarge' ng-‐model='brewery.synonyms'> </div> </div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="address">Address</label> <div class="controls"> <textarea class='input-‐xxlarge' ng-‐model='brewery.address'></textarea> </div> </div> <button class='btn btn-‐primary' ng-‐click='save()'>Save</button> </form>

AngularJS

AngularJS<form> <h3>{{brewery.title}}</h3> <div ng-‐include='"/assets/_errors.html"'></div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="title">Title</label> <div class="controls"> <input type='text' class='input-‐xxlarge' ng-‐model='brewery.title'> </div> </div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="synonyms">Synonyms</label> <div class="controls"> <input type='text' class='input-‐xxlarge' ng-‐model='brewery.synonyms'> </div> </div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="address">Address</label> <div class="controls"> <textarea class='input-‐xxlarge' ng-‐model='brewery.address'></textarea> </div> </div> <button class='btn btn-‐primary' ng-‐click='save()'>Save</button> </form>

<form> <h3>{{brewery.title}}</h3> <div ng-‐include='"/assets/_errors.html"'></div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="title">Title</label> <div class="controls"> <input type='text' class='input-‐xxlarge' ng-‐model='brewery.title'> </div> </div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="synonyms">Synonyms</label> <div class="controls"> <input type='text' class='input-‐xxlarge' ng-‐model='brewery.synonyms'> </div> </div> <div class="control-‐group"> <label class="control-‐label" for="address">Address</label> <div class="controls"> <textarea class='input-‐xxlarge' ng-‐model='brewery.address'></textarea> </div> </div> <button class='btn btn-‐primary' ng-‐click='save()'>Save</button> </form>

AngularJS

Round 6

pros/cons

Backbone.js

• Too simple

• Not opinionated enough

• “Memory” management

• Unstructured

• Spaghetti code

• Lightweight

• Not opinionated

• Simple

• Easy to read source

• “widget” development

Pros Cons

Ember• Too complex

• Overly opinionated

• Heavyweight

• ember-data - not production ready

• API always in flux

• Buggy

• Little to no mind-share outside of Rails

• Difficult to read source code

• Structured

• Highly opinionated

• “less” code

• “large” apps

Pros Cons

AngularJS

• Difficult to read source code

• jQuery plugins require custom directives

• Large apps requiring self-imposed structure

• Lightly structured

• Lightly opinionated

• “less” code

• Plain JavaScript

• Simple/Powerful

• Easy to test

• Lightweight

• small, medium, or large apps

Pros Cons

Summary

think before you choose

don’t cargo cult

don’t use Backbone.js!

play with them all

watch the metacasts.tv episodes on them ;)

@markbates http://www.metacasts.tv

AngularJS vs. Ember.js vs. Backbone.js

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