Backbone.js Development

Backbone.js is a Javascript framework based on MVP (model-view-presenter) architectural pattern with a RESTful JSON interface. It is used for building SPA (single page applications). It also handles the task of keeping all parts of application synchronized.

Single page applications are very popular nowadays. These are web applications that work like one single page with all required resources and assets being loaded with single page load. This means that page does not reload at any point. For user it looks like moving from page to page like on any other web page but technically he stays all the time on the same page. Backbone simply serves different visual states by hiding one blocks and showing others. This results in any user interactions being processed in a blink of an eye.

Backbone is also famous for it’s lightweight. It depends only on two other libraries - Underscore.js and jQuery. Backbone does not dictate any design solutions leaving it for developer’s creativity. It simply gives a proper structure and provides a useful set of built-in methods which makes Backbone one of the most unobtrusive frameworks.

The basic idea of the Backbone lies in smart interaction between actual data and it’s visual representation. When working with Backbone, you present your data as Models that can be created, validated, deleted, and saved on the server. Whenever model attributes in an interface change, the model calls for the event “change”. All the Views that display model state can be notified about the model attributes change in order for them to react in an appropriate way – for example, to re-depict themselves with the account of the new data. With Backbone you do not have to write any code that would search for the element in the DOM by some identificator and update the HTML manually. The view will update itself independently when the model changes. Thus, you are free to work with your UI without breaking the business logic and you can change your business logic without breaking your UI because you have that nice interface between them.

In iTechOza we value Backbone much when building rich client-side applications. Projects constructed with this framework provides a seamless user experience and lightning-fast loading speed while being constraint-free for any technical approaches and solutions.