JSFoo 2013

No Backend technology is going to be the next big revolution for building apps. Parse is a hosted solution for no backend technology which was recently acquired by Facebook.
I needed as self hosted drop in replacement of Parse, so I created Dodo.

This talk aims to.

1. Introduction to “No Backend” technology and parse(parse.com)

2. A faster way of building your apps, without bothering about the backend.

3. You will be able to start building application using parse.

4. You like parse(parse.com), but you want to host it on your server, you will learn how to do it.

5. You will get an overview of the different options available in the market of the No Backend tech, and their pros and cons.

Outline

When I came across the NoBackend technology, I was thrilled. This was the thing I was thinking to build from so long and it was right there in front of me, as if speaking to me “You only thought and thought, but someone actually did it!!”.

After that I explored many NoBackend options, and Parse(parse.com) was my favorite.

Parse is a great service, but there are few things I did not like about parse.

1. Its Costly.

2. Vendor Lock in: For some reason I don’t like the hosting service of parse or I am getting a better service. Lets say I am getting a better hosting at a cheaper rate than parse. I cannot move away from parse. I would have to change my entire code base if I have to do so.

I was looking for something which is hosted on my own servers, so that I have more control and I could save on costs. This time I did not wait for some one else to build it, thus Dodo was born.

What does that mean?

You build your applications using parse, using the client side libraries which parse provides. And then whenever you want to host it on your server, you install dodo on your server, and point your code to your dodo server instead of Parse. Your app is up and running on your server, without a single line change. Now that is exciting, isn’t it!!

This talk would begin with an introduction to NoBackend technologies.
What are the pros of cons of using it. When should we use it and when should we not and what are the options available.

After that we would be building an example browser app(todo app) using parse.

Finally we would replace parse with our own self hosted version of it, without touching a single line of code....and our code would still work. But we would have all the data on our server and all the control :)

It would end with the various existing options to build no-backend applications, their pros-cons and a Q&A.

Requirements

Basic understanding of Js
Understanding of Backbone would help, but not required.

Speaker bio

Name : Pankaj Bhageria, Lead at Sumeru Software Solutions.

Summary: RubyConf 2011 speaker, passionate about open source, created several libraries, developer, ROR, Nodejs, Meditator, loves to learn and teach.

Details:

Passionate about open source and JavaScript, I have been working on Node js and client side frameworks for more than a year now. Beginning with backbone, I have explored many MVC frameworks including ember, angular and knockout. I have also build few of my own libraries in JavaScript(see below).

I was a speaker at RubyConf2011((http://rubyconfindia.org/2011/talks.html). I have been working on open source since 2006 beginning with php, then Rails and now JS. I have worked on projects of various sizes, from one man army(from BA, to PM to developer to tester), to larger projects involving multiple people. I love teaching and have given multiple trainings on jQuery, Rails and Js(node, knockout). I believe that Spirituality and Technology can change the world and my dream is to create a software which will be used by the whole world. I am a regular Meditator and I love to help and meet new people, to learn and to teach.

Open Source Contributions

1. wherejs(wherejs.org): Its a library to search(deep search) in javascript arrays with a mongodb like interface.

2. selectjs(selectjs.org) : A javascript library to map and transfrom json object/arrays

3. dharmajs(https://github.com/panbhag/dharmajs): A Javascript SPA framework built around Knockout and sammy

4. naradjs(https://github.com/panbhag/narad): A pusher like nodejs implementation built on top of socket.io

Links

• http://github.com/panbhag
• http://twitter.com/panbhag
• http://vimeo.com/25406419

Slides

http://www.slideshare.net/pankajbhageria/nobackend-parse-and-dodo