What is the purpose of backbone.js?

Question

I tried to understand the utility of backbone.js from its site http://documentcloud.github.com/backbone, but I still couldn\'t figure out much.

Can anybody help me b

Answer 1

Backbone was created by Jeremy Ashkenas who also wrote CoffeeScript. As a JavaScript-heavy application, what we now know as Backbone was responsible for structuring the application into a coherent code base. Underscore.js, backbone's only dependency, was also part of the DocumentCloud application.

Backbone helps developers manage a data model in their client-side web app with as much discipline and structure as you would get in traditional server-side application logic.

Additional benefits of using Backbone.js

1. See Backbone as a library, not as a framework
2. Javascript is now getting organized in a structured way, the (MVVM) Model
3. Large user community

Answer 2

This is a pretty good introductory video: http://vimeo.com/22685608

If you are looking for more on Rails and Backbone, Thoughtbot has this pretty good book (not free): https://workshops.thoughtbot.com/backbone-js-on-rails

Answer 3

Here's an interesting presentation:

An intro to Backbone.js

Hint (from the slides):

• Rails in the browser? No.
• An MVC framework for JavaScript? Sorta.
• A big fat state machine? YES!

Answer 4

It also adds routing using controllers and views with KVO. You'll be able to develop "AJAXy" applications with it.

See it as a lightweight Sproutcore or Cappuccino framework.

Answer 5

JQuery and Mootools are just a toolbox with lot of tools of your project. Backbone acts like an architecture or a backbone for your project on which you can build an application using JQuery or Mootools.

Answer 6

backbone.js is Model-View-Controller (MVC) with JavaScript but Extjs better than backbone for MVC Pattern by java script

With backbone you got freedom to do almost anything you wish for. Rather than trying to fork through the api and customize I would use Backbonejs for it's simplicity and ease of implementation. Again it is hard to say what you require out of the two one is a library another a component