Getting started with Meteor.js

3 minutes to read

Below is a guest post from Ben Strahan, a meteor.js club member. He put together a great post and I really wanted to share it with the whole Meteor.js Club!

How do I become a web app developer - Meteor style

What does an aspiring web developer need to know to develop a Meteor app? Below is a list of languages, frameworks, libraries, packages & more ;) .

The lists that follow are purposely ordered, unless noted. This article does not explain why you need to learn each item (that is up to you to figure out). Instead this article's purpose is to provide a quick roadmap or "thousand mile" view of the technologies a Meteor Dev works with daily.

When you are in the weeds of learning new things it feels good knowing you have a map to reference and measure your progress against.

nemo's escape

Languages, Libraries & Frameworks, oh my!

Ultimately you need to be able to understand Meteor's API. Getting a grasp of the technologies listed below will give you what you need. There is no need to become an expert yet but you need to understand the structure and terminology of each.

Don't know what an API is? Check out this dude's video

Required

  1. Javascript - JS first?! Yes soldier, don't question me again or I will karate chop you!

Optional (learn when needed)

  1. NodeJS

MeteorJS

Now that you know the above you are deemed worthy to tap into the power and awesomeness of Meteor!

meteor powered lawnmower

Why did you need to learn ALL that stuff above before touching Meteor? Because Meteor is considered a Full-Stack platform. Through Meteor you manage the front-end, back-end and all the other ends.

...Okay no more question, lets learn MORE!

Time to become a Meteor nerd, review the docs.

If the sub-projects look intimidating don't worry. At a minimum below are the key packages in the sub-projects you need to know.

  1. Blaze

Good Meteor Tutorials & Courses

Ordered by difficulty & depth. These tutorials, courses, books & videos will walk you through various Meteor projects. Everything you learned above will culminate.

  1. Meteor's official tutorial (FREE)

Meteor Packages (no order)

Yes there is even more to learn. Meteor has a package manager called Atmosphere which allows the community to build packages that deeply integrate into the Meteor platform and expands the APIs available to you, the developer. Below is a list of the standard packages you will find in almost every serious Meteor app so you should get to know them.

Package NameGitHubAtmosphereWebsite
accounts-passwordgithubatmospherewebsite
useraccounts:coregithubatmospherewebsite
reactive-varatmospherewebsite
reactive-dictatmosphere
iron:routergithubatmosphereguide website
zimme:iron-router-activegithubatmosphere
zimme:iron-router-authgithubatmosphere
manuelschoebel:ms-seogithubatmospherearticle
dburles:collection-helpersgithubatmosphere
matb33:collection-hooksgithubatmosphere
reywood:publish-compositegithubatmospherewebsite
ongoworks:securitygithubatmosphere
alanning:rolesgithubatmospherewebsite
aldeed:autoformgithubatmosphere
aldeed:collection2githubatmosphere
aldeed:simple-schemagithubatmosphere
momentjs:momentgithubatmospherewebsite
matteodem:easy-searchgithubatmospherewebsite
matteodem:server-sessiongithubatmosphere
meteorhacks:kadiragithubatmospherewebsite
meteorhacks:aggregategithubatmosphere
meteorhacks:fast-rendergithubatmospherewebsite
meteorhacks:subs-managergithubatmosphere
meteorhacks:unblockgithubatmosphere
raix:handlebar-helpersgithubatmosphere
yogiben:helpersgithubatmosphere
zimme:collection-softremovablegithubatmosphere
zimme:collection-timestampablegithubatmosphere
u2622:persistent-sessiongithubatmosphere
tmeasday:publish-countsgithubatmosphere
percolatestudio:synced-crongithubatmosphere
dburles:factorygithubatmosphere
anti:fakegithubatmosphere

The rabbit hole goes deeper...

Wow, you must really be committed if you got this far. Ok, so you want my super secret lists?

Service Providers

When you go to deploy your app online there are a huge amount of service providers available to a developer. Below are a few that specifically serve the Meteor community (and do a great job) so I decided to give them a shout.

  • Kadira - Performance Tracking
  • Modulus - Hosting (Use code 'Metpodcast' to get a $25 credit)
  • Compose - Mongo Database Hosting with Oplog

Blogs, Vlogs, News & more (no order)

Come drink the Meteor cool-aid with me... look we won't be alone.

If I forgot someone let me (@_benstr) or @joshowens know

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Josh Owens

It all started with an Atari 800XL, but now Josh is a ruby and javascript developer with 10 years of professional experience. His current love is React.js, which he works with daily.