The JavaScript Renaissance

We all know the major players in JavaScript projects. MV* frameworks like AngularJS, Backbone, and Ember.js are inspiring a whole new breed of client applications. Utility libraries like underscore and lodash simplify constructs once reserved for academic exercise. And of course, the monolithic namespace jQuery is everywhere. The large teams and growing communities behind these projects (a little corporate backing never hurts) are moving forward and providing very solid platforms for developers to build upon. However, they are merely a precursor for the renaissance that is happening in the world of JavaScript right now.

Enter the micro-libraries, the drop-in replacements, and the “I-Had-No-Idea-JS-Could-Do-That” projects. Thanks to tooling like Grunt, bower, and npm, testing suites like Jasmine and QUnit, and of course the social coding site github; dozens of peer-reviewed and test-driven JavaScript libraries are sprouting up every day. Fresh approaches on everything from the core JavaScript functionality to abstractions of the ridiculously complex are in abundance and expanding the very foundation of the web.

VerbalExpression lets you write regular expressions in English; Knwl.js is a natural language processor; 140medley is an entire framework in 821 bytes. Want a DOM selector engine other than sizzle? Try micro-selector, nut, zest, qwery, Sly, or Satisfy. Need a templating engine? Try T-Lite, Grips, gloomy, Transparency, dust, hogan.js, Tempo, Plates, Mold, shorttag, doT.js, t.js, Milk, or at least 10 others. Dates got you down? Check out Date-Utils, moment.js, datejs, an.hour.ago, time.js. Route with Pilot, filter images with CamanJS, write games in Crafty, or make a presentation with RevealJS or impress.js.

Of course, along with this prolific creativity in the JS universe comes some serious overload. A bit of natural selection will eventually get the best of these projects on your radar, but if you want to see the really exciting bits of evolution occurring you have to watch. Constantly.

JavaScriptOO.com

Watching constantly is exactly what I do with JavaScriptOO.com. I watch, I lurk, I read, and eventually I find something that really inspires me.

The elevator pitch for the site is that it is a directory of JavaScript libraries with examples, CDN links, statistics, and sometimes videos about each library.

Behind the scenes, after sifting through github, twitter, hacker news, pineapple, and an endless stream of sites and finding something exciting, I begin the slow process of adding a library to the site. Slow is a relative term, but for me, in this context, it means anywhere from 30 minutes to a few days. Adding a library to the site is a purposefully manual process that requires I actually spend some time with the library, writing an example for it, categorizing it as best I can, and sometimes even creating a video about it.

This slow process is a huge bottleneck for updates on JSOO, and boy, do I hear about it. However, it also keeps the site from becoming just a directory of github links and it keeps the single curator excited about maintaining the site.

Examples and submitting your library

There are currently 401 405 409 examples on the site… almost one for every day it has been online. There are 79 libraries in the “Needed Examples” section where visitors can submit a gist or fiddle for that library and are encouraged to “include your Twitter handle or any other marketing you may like to, but keep it simple”. Lastly, there is a section for submitting your own library. Not all libraries submitted are added to the site, but they are given immediate priority, and if they are a fit, added to the queue. There is no editorial, no blog, no opinion at all other than hoping every visitor feels like this:

When I browse this http://t.co/hnfqKoQqdB I just swoon everytime. It's such an awesome JS resource.

— ★ (@SoHiggo) November 15, 2013

Beyond the very manual process of adding a library, the site is also a chance for me to experiment with all sorts of tech and see in real time how it performs under a moderate load. Originally launched as a .NET application most of what you see today is running node.js under iisnode using Express w/ Jade templates (moving to doT.js as I write), a gulpjs build process, a homegrown CMS using AngularJS and VB.NET (gasp!), and a Lucene.NET search application in C#.