Preface

We live in amazing times. Advances in medicine, communication, physics, and all other scientific fields provide us with opportunities to create things that were literally impossible to create only a short while ago.

Yet, we aren't easily amazed. Moore's law has not only affected how fast our computers are, it has significantly increased our expectations as well. We've come to expect wondrous advances, and therefore, what was once amazing has become…well…expected. It's a rare thing, indeed, to find something that takes us by surprise—something that renews that childhood sense of wonder we all secretly want back because it was stolen from us.

Well, get ready to regain some of that wonder. A dedicated group of computer scientists, who were determined to make something wondrous, have created a new JavaScript framework called Meteor. You may be thinking, "A new JavaScript framework? That's nothing special." And, if that's all Meteor is, you'd be correct. However, fortunately for you, that's not the end of the story.

Meteor is a reactive, simple, and powerful application platform, capable of producing sophisticated, robust web and mobile applications with just a few lines of code.

In the context of modern web applications, it is state-of-the-art. Using established, proven development design patterns, Meteor takes all the mundane parts of building an app and does them all for you. Therefore, you get to focus on building a solid application without getting bogged down with the usual time-wasting activities, such as writing yet another database interface or learning a new templating engine.

And the best part is, it's simple to learn, amazingly simple! You will see an application come to life right before your eyes, and when you look back at the number of lines of code it took to create and compare it to the traditional methods of development, you may actually find yourself saying "wow" or "how did they do that?"

This book will walk you through the major features of Meteor and show you how to create an application from scratch. By the end of the book, you will have created a working, useful application, and you will have a solid understanding of what makes Meteor different. This may sound like hyperbole, but if you're open to the idea that something innovative and unexpected can qualify as amazing, then prepare to be amazed!