Episode 120: CoffeeScript

What this episode covers

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 Vic Firth Pump and Grind Stainless-Steel Pepper Mill 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