May
10
2011
Episode 120: CoffeeScript
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Learn how you can write less code with CoffeeScript the Javascript compiler.
News and Follow/Ups – 00:40
- Jade is going out of state!
Geek Tools – 03:25
Webapps – 05:06
- Visual Event – Bookmarklet that lets you see Javascript click events assigned to elements
- Open Signals Map – Mashup of cell providers towers and cell usage.
Full Text Search – 11:15
- As of March 16, 2011, CoffeeScript is on GitHub’s list of most-watched projects
- A Ruby/Python inspired language that compiles down to Readable/Lint compatible Javascript
- CoffeeScript claims to reduce the number of lines needed to be written to 1/3 of hand written JS
- Because CoffeeScript compiles predictably to JavaScript, programs can be written with less code (typically 1/3 fewer lines) with no effect on runtime performance.
- Who is using it?
- Used in production by 37Signals
- Used in the Ars Technica reader for iPad
- Some advantages
- It is still compatible with Node.js, jquery, or any other framework
- Removes noise
- adds keywords, classes, and features like heredocs to make coding cleaner
- It is said to be faster to code in CoffeeScript once you learn the ropes
- Some potential downsides
- Debugging a coffeescript script still requires you read the generated Javascript code, which can be tedious, since you haven’t actually written it yourself.
- CoffeeScript – Compiler-for-Windows
