Use CoffeeScript to Write Better JavaScript Code Than Ever Before!   If you can do it in JavaScript, you can do it better in CoffeeScript. And, since CoffeeScript “compiles down” to JavaScript, your code will fit neatly into virtually any web environment. In Programming in CoffeeScript, Mark Bates shows web developers why CoffeeScript is so useful and how it avoids the problems that often make JavaScript code buggy and unmanageable. He guides you through every feature and technique you need to write quality CoffeeScript code and shows how to take advantage of CoffeeScript’s increasingly robust toolset.   Bates begins with the absolute basics of running and compiling CoffeeScript and then introduces syntax, control structures, functions, collections, and classes. Through same page code comparisons, you’ll discover exactly how CoffeeScript improves on JavaScript. Next, you’ll put it to work in building applications that are powerful, flexible, maintainable, concise, reliable, and secure. Bates shares valuable tips for better development, illuminating CoffeeScript’s hidden gems and warning you about its remaining “rough edges.” The book concludes with a start-to-finish application case study showing how to code back-ends and front-ends and integrate powerful frameworks and libraries. Coverage includes Understanding the right ways to compile and execute CoffeeScript Using CoffeeScript’s clean syntax to focus on your code, not JavaScript’s distractions Working with CoffeeScript’s control structures, functions, and arguments Taking full advantage of CoffeeScript’s implementation of collections and iterators Leveraging CoffeeScript’s full class support to create complex data models Automating common application development tasks with Cake and Cakefiles Configuring Jasmine with CoffeeScript support, and using it to systematically test your code Writing Node.js server-side applications in CoffeeScript Using CoffeeScript to write jQuery and Backbone.js applications Integrating framework code to avoid “reinventing the wheel” Want a better way to create the JavaScript code your web applications need? CoffeeScript is the solution–and this book will help you master it!  

Table of Contents:
Dedication    v Acknowledgments    xii About the Author    xiv Preface    xv What Is CoffeeScript?    xvii Who Is This Book For?    xix How to Read This Book    xix How This Book Is Organized    xxi Part I: Core CoffeeScript    xxii Part II: CoffeeScript in Practice    xxii Installing CoffeeScript    xxiii How to Run the Examples    xxiii Notes    xxiv Part I: Core CoffeeScript 1  Getting Started    3 The CoffeeScript REPL    3 In-Browser Compilation    6 Caveats    7 Command-Line Compilation    7 The compile Flag    7 The CoffeeScript CLI    8 The output Flag    9 The bare Flag    9 The print Flag    10 The watch Flag    10 Executing CoffeeScript Files    11 Other Options    11 Wrapping Up    12 Notes    12 2  The Basics    13 Syntax    13 Significant Whitespace    14 Function Keyword    16 Parentheses    16 Scope and Variables    18 Variable Scope in JavaScript    18 Variable Scope in CoffeeScript    19 The Anonymous Wrapper Function    20 Interpolation    23 String Interpolation    23 Interpolated Strings    23 Literal Strings    25 Heredocs    28 Comments    29 Inline Comments    29 Block Comments    30 Extended Regular Expressions    31 Wrapping Up    31 Notes    32 3  Control Structures    33 Operators and Aliases    33 Arithmetic    33 Assignment    35 Comparison    39 String    42 The Existential Operator    43 Aliases    46 The is and isnt Aliases    47 The not Alias    48 The and and or Aliases    49 The Boolean Aliases    50 The @ Alias    51 If/Unless    52 The if Statement    53 The if/else Statement    54 The if/else if Statement    56 The unless Statement    58 Inline Conditionals    60 Switch/Case Statements    60 Wrapping Up    63 Notes    63 4  Functions and Arguments    65 Function Basics    68 Arguments    70 Default Arguments    72 Splats...    75 Wrapping Up    79 Notes    79 5  Collections and Iterations    81 Arrays    81 Testing Inclusion    83 Swapping Assignment    85 Multiple Assignment aka Destructing Assignment    86 Ranges    90 Slicing Arrays    92 Replacing Array Values    94 Injecting Values    95 Objects/Hashes    96 Getting/Setting Attributes    101 Destructuring Assignment    103 Loops and Iteration    105 Iterating Arrays    105 The by Keyword    106 The when Keyword    107 Iterating Objects    108 The by Keyword    109 The when Keyword    109 The own Keyword    110 while Loops    113 until Loops    114 Comprehensions    116 The do Keyword    119 Wrapping Up    120 Notes    121 6  Classes    123 Defining Classes    123 Defining Functions    125 The constructor Function    126 Scope in Classes    127 Extending Classes    137 Class-Level Functions    145 Prototype Functions    150 Binding (-> Versus =>)    151 Wrapping Up    158 Notes    158 Part II: CoffeeScript in Practice 7  Cake and Cakefiles    161 Getting Started    161 Creating Cake Tasks    162 Running Cake Tasks    163 Using Options    163 Invoking Other Tasks    167 Wrapping Up    169 Notes    170 8  Testing with Jasmine    171 Installing Jasmine    172 Setting Up Jasmine    172 Introduction to Jasmine    175 Unit Testing    176 Before and After    181 Custom Matchers    187 Wrapping Up    190 Notes    191 9  Intro to Node.js    193 What Is Node.js?    193 Installing Node    194 Getting Started    195 Streaming Responses    197 Building a CoffeeScript Server    199 Trying Out the Server    214 Wrapping Up    215 Notes    215 10  Example: Todo List Part    1 (Server-side)    217 Installing and Setting Up Express    218 Setting Up MongoDB Using Mongoose    222 Writing the Todo API    225 Querying with Mongoose    226 Finding All Todos    227 Creating New Todos    228 Getting, Updating, and Destroying a Todo    230 Cleaning Up the Controller    232 Wrapping Up    236 Notes    236 11  Example: Todo List Part    2 (Client-side w/ jQuery)    237 Priming the HTML with Twitter Bootstrap    237 Interacting with jQuery    240 Hooking Up the New Todo Form    242 Cleaning Up the Todo List with Underscore.js Templates    244 Listing Existing Todos    247 Updating Todos    248 Deleting Todos    252 Wrapping Up    253 Notes    253 12  Example: Todo List Part    3 (Client-side w/ Backbone.js)    255 What Is Backbone.js?    255 Cleaning Up    256 Setting Up Backbone.js    256 Writing our Todo Model and Collection    260 Listing Todos Using a View    263 Creating New Todos    265 A View per Todo    268 Updating and Validating Models from Views    270 Validation    272 Deleting Models from Views    273 Wrapping Up    275 Notes    275 Index    277