January Monthly Meetup

Join Us Live:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/hill-country-js-meetup

Schedule:

7:00-7:15 General discussion/Meet & Greet/Food/Drinks
7:15-7:30 Speaker - Kyle Simpson
7:30-8:30 Main Speaker - Brandon Satrom
8:30-? Open Discussion

Speaker Topic

Brandon Satrom - Secrets of Awesome JavaScript API Design

It doesn’t take long for most developers to sniff out a poorly-designed JavaScript API. Within minutes of reading about or coding against a new library, most developers can intuit whether their long-term relationship with that library will be a pleasant or unfortunate one. While documentation, buzz and other factors certainly play into that conclusion, the largest influencer of that snap conclusion is the “feel” of the API itself. APIs are developer UX: A good one raises a developers enjoyment; a bad one sends it plummeting.

As developers, we know what good and bad JavaScript APIs “feel” like, and yet we struggle with designing the kind of APIs that we enjoy using. But principles of good JavaScript API design do exist, and it’s possible to extract them from several key libraries in the the proliferating JavaScript landscape. In this talk, Brandon Satrom will do exactly that, digging into the design aspects of popular libraries like jQuery, Backbone, Modernizer, Kendo UI and others to enumerate the designed-in qualities of these libraries that make them not only popular, but a pleasure to use.

Parking and Directions

The Weston Centre is at 112 E Pecan St, but the parking garage is on the west side (Soledad St). Head up the "Public Parking" ramp. When you leave, the gate will be open for exit and you won't have to pay anything.

From the garage, take the elevator to the ground floor. Go through two sets of double doors and enter the main large foyer. The elevators are ahead on the left, and Geekdom is on the 11th floor.