CoffeeScript: Accelerated JavaScript Development, 2nd Edition

Over the last five years, CoffeeScript has taken the web development world by storm. With the humble motto “It’s just JavaScript,” CoffeeScript provides all the power of the JavaScript language in a friendly and elegant package. This extensively revised and updated new edition includes an all-new project to demonstrate CoffeeScript in action, both in the browser and on a Node.js server. There’s no faster way to learn to write a modern web application.

This new edition has been extensively revised and updated to reflect the current state and features of CoffeeScript. Every chapter has been revised and refactored, and new sections and a new chapter on testing have been added. If you already know JavaScript, this book will make your transition to CoffeeScript easy. If you’re new to JavaScript, it’s a great place to start.

New in this edition:

• Automating setup with the Grunt task runner
• Using CoffeeScript classes with the Backbone framework
• Using CoffeeScript’s simple callback syntax to interact with the Express framework
• A new chapter on client-side and server-side testing with Intern
• A new project that gives you hands-on experience with browser-side and server-side CoffeeScript

CoffeeScript is every bit as portable and effective as JavaScript. It aids development by adding a bevy of features, such as classes, splats, list comprehensions, and destructuring. These features make it easier to write clear, readable code, and by learning how these features work, you’ll deepen your understand of JavaScript as well. This book is your complete guide to writing better JavaScript code, faster.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Getting Started
Chapter 2. Functions, Scope, and Context
Chapter 3. Collections, Iteration, and Destructuring
Chapter 4. Classes, Prototypes, and Inheritance
Chapter 5. Web Applications with jQuery and Backbone.js
Chapter 6. Web Servers with Node and Express
Chapter 7. Testing with Intern