Babel & Boats at the Beach

A rather quick talk by Seph Coster / @sephcoster

JSConf Background

• Focus on Social Interaction / Engagement
• Blend of Experienced and New Speakers
• Three Tracks: Keynote, Attendee Speakers, and Training
• 7 years old, launched Node.JS at JSConf.eu, React, etc
• Three Days of Talks
  • Day 1: Talks 9-7
  • Day 2: Activities (Bots, Boats, Copters, Rockets, Golf, etc)
  • Day 3: Talks 9-7
• Lots of chances to engage, talk, and network

Bottom Line: ++ Would Go Again.

Time to JS.

Learnings

Reactive Frameworks are Rad

• LOTS of talks involving React and Virtual DOMS
• ZERO talks mentioning / using AngularJS
• Tungsten.JS Framework modular reactive framework launched
• Virtual DOM, performance, and ES6 baked-in at compile time are huge differentiators for the community
• New Frameworks including Paperclip.js and Ember Glimmer pre-renders discussed
• If DOM your key, try out DBMonster to Test

Accessibility is Awesome

• Don't forget about a huge portion of your users - make your app work for all
• Hearing, Sight & Physical issues + More
• New automated tools are available to bake into your test suites
  • a11y automated suite (based on Chrome Dev Tools)
  • Tenon API
  • tota11y Browser Plugin from Kahn Academy
• ARIA Tags work for JS transitions and can call out entry / exit of elements
• If you're not using these tests for your apps, you should be.

Simon Swain is a badass.

Simon built that Cold War Simulator

• He flew from Australia to present
• He renders thousands of DOM elements and animates them using Canvas in an epic project
• His presentation style was compelling, interesting, and should be emulated
• Watch the video when it comes out

(math == art && art == code)

• Talk given by @thisisjohnbrown
• Experimentation with Code is often how you learn the most
• Side projects, hacks, etc are the way you dig deep into figuring out how things work
• You should try out some art. He gave homework! Try it!
• Homework: Make something with Uncontext

Sometimes Web + Native is Best Solution

• Talk by @k88hudson (Kate Hudson)
• Easy to create Android Top Level Header with Web View
• Web layer then has access to native Java APIs and can pass strings(!!)
• We need to keep thinking of creative ways to make native / web work better
• "Really good engineering is finding adequate solutions to problems that matter"

Vagrant and Development Boxes

• @GordTanner
• Critical to get new team members up and running FAST - it's the measure of your organization
• Use Vagrant liberally
• Don't make users SSH into the box - issue commands from Bash using --command and the $* operator
• Try adding NFS for better file performance
• Script all the things including pre-check updates
• Auto-reload for Grunt. Just do it.

ES6 And Beyond

• It's time to start writing and learning in ES6
• Babel is a great way to transpile to ES5 and do that
• @sebmck (creator of Babel) presented
• "Babel does great things, but it's not a substitute for understanding the language / trade-offs"
• Not everything in ES6 Works Well in ES5. Know when to use it.
• @ag_dubs - JS Community needs to think about why their language has taken off, and keep learning at the heart of the language in future

ES7 Improvements

• @naveedi from Mozilla Engineering
• ES7 Bringing Shared Memory between web / native
• Huge improvements in WebGL, etc possible with multiple cores
• Insane graphics performance in his demo
• Unreal Engine in the Browser, etc
• ES7 Brings us closer to native performance

New Frameworks and Tools to Check Out

• KNEX.js / Bookshelf.JS Node Frameworks
• a11y / Google Chrome A11y Tools
• Paperclip.js / Tungsten.JS
• Polymer
• Relay (React / Flux GraphQL Addon)
• Johnny Five (not new, but AWESOME
• BitHound.io Static Code Inspector

Hardware... is Amazing

Node Boats

• Hardware: Spark Core w/ Wifi
• Servos, Motors, and Wires
• Johnny Five Node-based System
• We built a boat, and Control Software

Why Hardware Was Unexpectedly Great

• Great chance to hack together with people you don't know and form a great bond
• Solve problems in new and different ways
• Learn JavaScript from another viewpoint / perspective
• Create Atoms.
• That feeling when you get your Arduino to "Breath" for the first time

In Conclusion:

• Great Conference.
• Learned a lot and met great people (including potential recruits and business leads!)
• Conference + Meals Together + Beach = My favorite.

THE END

BY Seph Coster / github.com/sephcoster