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Show HN: An e-book about integrating front end libraries
- daok 12y agoI check rapidly the free sample and I found the use of Laravel framework to be irrelevant. All examples could have been done with simple Html and others front-end libraries. It will confuse novice people. Should have just focused on front end.
- msurguy 12y agoThanks for the feedback! The purpose of the book is to feature complete integration of various libraries and frameworks with a backend. Laravel is chosen as an example framework so that the developer can have a complete solution instead of just some theory. In the prerequisites to the book it clearly states that novice developers will have a hard time unless they have some backend experience.
- woah 12y agoI have no basis for saying this, but I feel like I wouldn't want to work on a app built by a developer who taught themselves frontend with this book. The focus on "AJAX contact forms, AJAX file uploads, Avatar Cropping" in the blurb is odd. It sounds like you'll be getting a rundown on some handrolled jQuery stuff.
- msurguy 12y agoThanks for the tip. What's wrong with using jQuery? When you do the hiring are you looking for someone who takes up a couple months and rolls their own libraries or someone who can get the job done quickly by using existing open source projects? The AJAX file uploaders are super tricky, the one used in the book has a jQuery wrapper but can work without it, you'd only spend about 300% more time integrating it.
- delluminatus 12y agoI think his point is more that it's typically easier and better to use preexisting contact form and file upload solutions, instead of writing your own (with jQuery or otherwise). Personally I can see the benefit of banging out a form in jQuery instead of having to research and integrate another system, but something about the chapter summaries seem strange. It sounds like it's more about building custom front-end components than integrating different libraries (which is what I expected from the title).
- msurguy 12y agoThanks for the clarification. The chapter summaries on the maxoffsky.com/frontend page?
- delluminatus 12y agoYeah, in particular the lines: * Creating AJAX contact form * Building AJAX registration/login forms Maybe it's just me, but that language kind of reminds me of the copy-paste era of Javascript development, where developers who don't understand JS semantics jump right into messing with login systems. Like 10 years ago it would have been "Building DHTML page counters". OFC I don't know if that impression reflects the actual material or not, though. IMO if you're going to tell someone how to build AJAX contact forms, you would be better served writing a library to do it for them with a comprehensible API that makes it hard for people to fuck it up, or to start by explaining the basics of jQuery AJAX and selectors and event handlers and let people build the idea themselves from solid foundations. If someone really groks jQuery (or even vanilla JS), writing a contact form is a little tedious but not something that needs a tutorial or guide.
- notduncansmith 12y agoI'm not exactly the target audience (pretty handy with the front-end already) but I do know a lot of back-end developers who would find immense value in this book. A lot of the help I provide to more back-end focused devs is along the same lines: "here's what we need to do - here's why - here's a library/tool that makes this easier". I've actually been thinking lately about writing a similar book. Kudos to the author for putting this out there!
- msurguy 12y agoThanks! I would really appreciate if you could point them to this book. Also if you have any tips for me reaching the target audience - feel free to voice your opinion here or on twitter - @msurguy