Getting Started With Ember

1

Some of my friends and I are working on developing a social network (cliche, I know, but it was born from a joke), and I am a full stack developer for the project. I was recently debating what framework to use on the frontend. We are using mostly Node.js on the backend with possibly some Python / Bottle sprinkled in. I don’t want to use Angular, because it is turning into a Web Components implementation, Backbone is nice, but doesn’t really fit our architecture on the Backend. I didnt want to be stuck with pure jQuery, or some obscure JavaScript library. I have wanted to try Ember for some time, but just have not had the time. To help kickstart me, I wanted to ask the community a few questions

  • I’ve noticed that the best practice is to use the Ember CLI, and that this uses Broccoli, typically, I use Gulp + Karma. Is Ember CLI going to impede me from my typical workflow?

  • Does EmberJS work well with Apache Cordova? I will probably do our mobile app with Cordova.

  • I’ve heard that Ember has components. Do these components break standard HTML?

  • Is Embers learning curve that bad? I do not have much experience with frontend JavaScript frameworks (I’ve used Backbone and Knockout mostly).

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2

Hey James!

  • You can theoretically use any build tool you want. You will be fighting the current if you do so, however, and IMO you are much, much better off just using Broccoli. The test runner is more flexible, you’ll find plenty of folks swapping that out.

  • Yes, we have seen some cool successes with Cordova. Check out this plugin.

  • Ember is increasingly dependent on components. As a stated goal, we intend to keep them aligned with the web component standard.

  • If this is your first front-end MVC framework, the learning curve is probably going to be substantial, but not insurmountable. Ember asks an awful lot of you upfront, but the payoff is unrivaled.