https://github.com/gmac/backboneconf-learning

https://github.com/gmac/backboneconf-learning

Last synced: 29 days ago
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• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/gmac/backboneconf-learning
• Owner: gmac
• Created: 2014-11-16T17:28:15.000Z (almost 10 years ago)
• Default Branch: master
• Last Pushed: 2014-12-17T21:06:40.000Z (almost 10 years ago)
• Last Synced: 2024-04-14T22:19:44.436Z (7 months ago)
• Language: CSS
• Size: 17.5 MB
• Stars: 0
• Watchers: 2
• Forks: 0
• Open Issues: 0
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md

Awesome Lists containing this project

README

        
To run presentation:

```

gem install middleman

bundle install

bundle exec middleman

```

# Learning

 - Hello

 - Vox Media / GA / Epoxy

 - Thank you Bocoup; also Peter Lai, and Travis Vander Hoop

 

# Backbone @ Vox

 - Explainer Cards: about 25% of Vox.com traffic.

 - Case study in how simple behavior can enhance storytelling.

 

# LEARNING

 - A series of simple truths the we already know.

## Learning is Hard

 

 - Antaginist in the story of learning is the Cycle of Change.

 - Sine wave of peaks and valleys representing our successes and struggles.

 - What is YOUR peak?

 - What struggles do you avoid?

## Growth Mindset

 - Learning starts with our attitude toward it.

 - See TED Talk by Eduardo Briceno (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN34FNbOKXc).

## Mindsets

 - **Fixed Mindset**: engrained level of ability.

 	- "If winning makes us winners, then losing must make us losers."

  

 - **Growth Mindset**: intelligence is malleable. We grow our own potential.

   - "I don't know, YET."

## Yes, Let's!

 - We've made a game of this in our classroom.

 - Simple strategy for embracing challenge, and setting ongoing short-term goals.

## Mentorship

 - From interview panels and hiring officers:  

 *"What will this individual cost us?"*

 

Powerful feedback loop...

  - **Seniors** distill their own knowledge into new conclusions. They teach themselves.

  - **Juniors** are fearless in conquering new material. They shift the team foundation.

# Learning JavaScript

## Why is it so hard?

 - For such a small language, why is there a disproportionate level of anger and misery associated?

 - Thank you, Angus Croll for explanation.

 - JavaScript is TWO languages:

 	- The simple familiar (tip).

 	- The abyssal powerhouse (depths).

 

## Understanding

 - My best answer to the challenge of JavaScript:

 - When we can't rely on the "familiar" parts, we feel unprepared for the advanced material.

## Core JavaScript

 - The solution: embrace more of the language as "core" knowledge.

 - Demystifies many library-level programming patterns.

 

Aspirational Core learning points:

 - **First-Class Functions**: functions as objects.  

 - **Closure & Scope**: who knows what, where.

 - **Contextual Invocation**: the meaning of "this".

 - **Prototypal Inheritance**: method sharing.

## Require(*);

 - NodeJS has made JavaScript an institution.

 - The only truly full-stack language.

 - However, this is still a microcosm within software development.

 

## Foreign Language:

 - Distilled research from the ACTFL...

 - Does this seem relevant to software engineers?

 - BONUS: it also forestalls degenerative diseases of the brain!

 

 So:

 

 - Who feels they are a better programmer for knowing multiple languages?

 - Valuable lesson to the new generation who can choose to use only JavaScript.

   

# Learning Backbone

## So, Uh... What do I do with it?

 - Common question, even from skilled technicians.

 - Docs are functional, not conceptual.

## The Simple Lessons of Backbone

 - Deconstructed down into basic concepts.

## Backend / Frontend

 - Something of a religious debate.

 - BE is fundamentally simpler than FE.

 - BE is more streamlined, with more common solutions to finite problems.

 - In 2015, FE does not exist on its own.

   

## Model / View Separation

 - The Backbone visual-quickstart guide.

 - MV*? ... here it is.

 - THE simple lesson of Backbone.

## M/V is Freeform

 - Views share models!

 - Makes complex view updates quite easy.

## Collection / Model

 - How do these work together?

 - Their behaviors map directly to REST services.

## API / Modeling

 - API data doesn't always match model directly.

 - Use "parse" to reconcile differences.

 - We want to avoid convoluted models.

## Routers

 - There are no simple lessons.

 - While you can teach models & views in a couple days, routers take weeks of repeated practice.

 - Thanks James!

# Learning the Future

## A Retrospective

 

 - This is NOT about obesity, but about maps.

 - This is my story, and I'm sure most of you have something similar (or will soon)...

   - HTML image maps.

   - Macromedia Director.

   - Flash.

   - D3 / TopoJSON.

 - While tools and data formats have changed, we're still doing the EXACT SAME THING.

## Design Patterns

 - There's a famous book about this...

 - This quote is 15 years post-"Software Design Patterns".

 - The book's original influences can still be seen today.

 

SO:

 

 - **As technology evolves, we remember software not for it's code, but for its design.**

 

## Backbone in 2025

 - What will we remember, and/or what will still apply?

 - Design will stand the test of time, code will not.

## Start Over

 

 - Conway's Game of Life.

 - Cited among the most valuable days of class.

 - Pair up, code for 1 hour, then start over.

   - Letting go.

   - Breaking the cycle.

   - Starting over.

SO:

- That's not to say that we should start over without cause...

- **But when the time comes for the change:**

 

## Yes, Let's.