ClojureScript is a version of the Clojure language that compiles into JavaScript — and thus can be run inside of a Web browser. How does ClojureScript work? How does the compiler turn one language into another, and then work around the limitations inherent in a browser environment? In this talk, Maria Geller demonstrates these processes, giving us insights into Clojure, ClojureScript, JavaScript, and compilers in general.
JavaScript is a language — but it is also, increasingly, a target for compilers written in other languages. How is JavaScript (aka ECMAScript) evolving to support a variety of languages, use cases, and real-world needs? In this talk, JavaScript inventor Brendan Eich describes where JavaScript is going, what new features it is going to get in the coming years as the language becomes an even more important aspect of the Web infrastructure. The talk even includes a demo of a first-person shooter game written entirely in JavaScript, something that we never would have expected until just a few years ago. If you’re interested in the future of JavaScript, this talk should help you to understand the future of what’s often called, “the assembly language of the Web.”
JavaScript is one of the most important programming languages, because so many Web sites include it on the client side (and sometimes on the server side). This means that the optimization of JavaScript programs is a problem that, when solved, can affect a large number of users. In this talk, Marija Selakovic points to some of the low-hanging fruit in the world of JavaScript optimization, demonstrating techniques that work just as well, but can massively affect program speed and efficiency.
JavaScript might be a popular and powerful programming language — but it also has a huge number of inconsistencies and oddities that make it challenging to learn and use. That said, JavaScript is growing in popularity and power, and has capabilities that we can and should respect, and even use, in our production work. In this talk, Venkat Subramaniam demonstrates the power of JavaScript, allowing us to use (and mix) object-oriented and functional styles.
Having lots of data isn’t enough; you have to present it in ways that are interesting and compelling. D3 is a popular JavaScript library that makes it straightforward to turn data into complex visualizations, in a variety of formats. In this talk, Eric Carlisle introduces D3, describing and demonstrating many of its capabilities.
ECMAScript 2015 (aka ES6 aka JavaScript 6) is basically here. Lots of people are talking about this, but what does it really mean? What features are included in this new version, and what do they mean for JavaScript developers — and particularly, for front-end developers for whom JavaScript is basically the only language they can use inside of the browser? In this talk, Paul Verbeek introduces ES6, demonstrates a number of features, and how they will make your code more obvious, readable, and powerful.
React.js is a popular client-side JavaScript framework that has become quite popular since it was introduced about two years ago. Earlier this year, Facebook unveiled a new library based on React.js, called “React Native.” This framework is for native mobile apps, rather than Web applications, but uses the existing React paradigms. In this talk, Tom Occhino reviews the past and present of React.js, and then describes where it is going, in React Native. If you have heard about React.js but don’t quite know what it does, or would like to use JavaScript for native app development, this talk should explain much of it to you.
Functional programming is making quite a comeback, offering programmers tools that make it easier to describe and express the actions we want to take. However, functional programming can often seem a bit weird to newcomers. In this talk, Stefanie Schirmer introduces a number of functional techniques in JavaScript, including the idea of “currying,” in which functions return functions. If currying and/or reduce have often seemed like weird, abstract tools that aren’t really relevant to your work, this talk might well change your mind.
How big is the data you’re processing? If it’s large, then you will probably not want to put all of it in a single data structure, in order to save memory. Instead, you can use a lazy list, aka a “stream,” which allows us to consume very small amounts of memory while working with very large, or even infinitely large, data structures. In this talk, Pam Selle describes streams, demonstrates why they are useful in general, and then talks about ways in which we can work with streams in JavaScript — including a summary of the standards and data structures that will be included in upcoming versions of JavaScript. If you’re planning to work with large amounts of data, regardless of the language with which you’ll be working, then this talk will be of interest to you.
Python is a dynamic language, which basically means that data has types (but identifiers don’t). So s can point to a string, an int, a dict, or a function. But there has been some movement in the last year or two to introduce some form of strong typing, or type hints, into Python. What does this mean, and how does it work? One way to think about it is by looking at a similar idea that was implemented in JavaScript, known as TypeScript. In this talk, Christopher Neugebauer describes TypeScript, what it did for JavaScript, and how Python developers can (and should) look at the introduction of type hints in future versions of Python.