Node.js: Why JavaScript sucks and you should use it everywhere + POTLUCK

Meetup is FREE with a $5 suggested donation at the door. Help keep WIMP awesome.

Professional computer geek Dan Lyke (http://www.flutterby.net/User:DanLyke) will be presenting this month.

Abstract

JavaScript is a necessary evil for web apps. Given that, how can NodeJS help us use JavaScript everywhere, on both clients and servers, to deploy higher quality software through code sharing, test driven development, and other best practices. No programming experience necessary.

Outline

1. Your project includes JavaScript because JavaScript is everywhere.
2. MVC - here's how applications are "supposed" to be structured.
3. A tangled mess - here's how web apps are actually structured.
4. Here's how JavaScript at all layers can help make that tangled mess more maintainable.
5. NodeJS can help you do that through:

• Test Driven Development (+mocha) (demo)
• Sharing code between Model and Controller (demo)
• Amazing frameworks (+meteor) (demo)
• Integrating NodeJS for other server apps (maybe demo)
• A few related technologies, or how Node.js can help you not write in JavaScript: CoffeeScript, C++/emscripten, TypeScript

About Dan Lyke

http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/c/5/6/e/600_350510542.jpeg

A former professional whitewater guide, and current computer geek, Dan has credits in blockbuster films, bestselling games, has written code that is in consumer products that have touched your life, was a "blogger" before that term was coined, and aspires to being a square dance caller. He wrote his first HTML browser in 1993, started an ISP shortly afterwards, worked at Pixar, on the Cricut family of products, is handy with a soldering iron, and relaxes by building wooden boats using hand tools in under 3 hours.

You can learn more at Dan Lyke's website (http://www.flutterby.net/User:DanLyke).

LOCATION DETAILS

Bring $4 if you plan to park on campus. (SRJC parking lot on Elliot Ave behind Plover Hall or the garage on Mendocino Ave are most convenient and reliable.)

We are meeting at the SRJC Campus in Santa Rosa (http://www.santarosa.edu/about_srjc/campuses_centers/). Rm 4638, 1st floor of the Bertolini Center (http://www.santarosa.edu/map/bertolini/bertolini.html). Bertolini Center is located in the front of campus at Mendocino Avenue and Elliott Avenue.

WARNING: Once you've parked and located the Bertolini Center, you can find the entrance to RM 4638 on the EAST side of the building (that is, facing Mendocino Ave). RM 4638 is NOT connected to the rest of the Bertolini Center, so it will be impossible to find if you try any other entrance. Sorry to everyone that got lost last month!

http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/b/a/4/c/600_331187692.jpeg

Here is a map to help you out. (http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/b/a/4/c/600_331187692.jpeg)