Meteor: build apps with JavaScript
Details
Normally we organize PHP and/or Laravel related meetups. This time we present you an interesting step aside in the web development area. Koen will talk about Meteor and shows us how easy it is to create a Meteor application from scratch.
The lecture
In this meetup Koen will discuss Meteor (https://www.meteor.com/); an Open Source full-stack reactive distributed data JavaScript app framework (http://www.programcreek.com/2011/09/what-is-the-difference-between-a-java-library-and-a-framework/).Open Source
The framework is maintained and actively developed by a large and very supportive community (https://github.com/meteor/meteor); there are tons of Meteor-specific packages available which enable developers to easily add functionalities to their application. However, since Meteor is based on Node.js (https://nodejs.org/en/), it also works nicely together with any NPM (https://www.npmjs.com/) package (Node Package Manager); with over 350.000 available packages this makes the life of programmers much easier.Full-stack
Another major benefit of Meteor, or rather any full-stack JavaScript framework, is that the developer has to work with just one language (client-side & server-side). Being based on Node.js, Meteor is also able to connect with native operating system functionalities, enabling hardware communication, amongst other things, both on the server and the client (with a little tinkering).Reactive
Some people refer to Meteor as 'magic'. A lot of this magic revolves around the concept of reactivity (https://www.discovermeteor.com/blog/reactivity-basics-meteors-magic-demystified/); triggering actions based on changes in data. For instance: when a React (https://facebook.github.io/react/) component makes use of a Collection (https://docs.meteor.com/api/collections.html) and an item is added to this Collection, the Component will automatically re-render.Distributed data
Meteor implements the Distributed Data Protocol (DDP). It is basically an implementation of WebSockets (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebSocket) combined with the concepts of Publications and Subscriptions. It takes care of the synchronisation of data between the various clients and the server. A server Publishes a datasource, to which the clients can Subscribe after which they will 'magically' receive updates when one of the clients makes a modification.App
Meteor, when it started, was just a web platform. Rather quickly the MDG (Meteor Development Group) integrated Cordova, allowing hybrid apps to be built from Meteor code. Currently you can build your Meteor application into an Android and iOS app. Using a third-party plugin Meteor apps can also be build into native binaries for Windows, Mac and Linux systems.
Meetup
In this meetup we will further expand on the concepts discussed above while we walk through the Meteor React tutorial and show you how easy it is to create a Meteor application from scratch.
About Koen Lavrijssen
Koen, 25 years young, started programming at the age of 12 and hasn’t stopped since. During his studies in Information Management at Tilburg University he founded Mr. Winston (https://mrwinston.nl/); a hospitality cash register system based on Meteor. A year ago he founded DUODEKA (https://duodeka.nl/); a software cooperation based in Tilburg; their programmers are all entrepreneurs, working as independent IT professionals under the name of DUODEKA. Within DUODEKA they like to solve complex business problems with simple IT solutions.
About the location
This time we host the meetup at Senet (http://www.senet.nl/) HQ. Senet provides us a marvelous place with food (pizza) and drinks. Because of this, everybody is encouraged to attend about an hour prior to the lecture, so we can have a chat while enjoying our food.
Senets nice building is located just outside the Ringweg in the south of Eindhoven, near the gorgeous Genneper Parken. Loads of free parking spaces are available around the building.
About the meetup
• attending the meetup is free (as in free beer);
• free food (pizza) and free drinks are provided!;
• food is available between 18:00 and 19:00;
• prize raffle every meetup;
• the lecture will start at 19:00;
• spoken language is English unless not necessary;
• the presentation is in English;
• suitable for novice to expert level;
• hold at Senet HQ;
• free parking spaces are right around the building.