Please note that as of January 2013 I am no longer offering my Backbone training class on a regular basis. I have exited the consulting world in favor of a full time position working with Kendo UI as a Developer Advocate. While I will continue to be a part of the Backbone community with my new position, offering a private, on-site training class is not something I will be able to do right now. I may bring this back out at some point in the future, but I don't know when (if at all).



Backbone.js Resources

There are many resources available for both learning Backbone.js and for asking questions when you run into issues. Some of them are paid resources and some of them are free. This is a list of my favorites. Be sure to check back on a regular basis, as the list changes regularly!

My Own Resources

Documents And User Groups

Blogs

Code / Sample Projects

Application Structure / Boilerplates

Books

Backbone.js Fundamentals (online book)

  • Addy Osmani is writing a free e-book discussing the fundamentals of Backbone, with a collaborative approach through the use of Github. It's well worth reading and is continuously growing and changing. If you're not familiar with Addy's work in the JavaScript world, you need to be.

Backbone.js + CoffeeScript (e-book)

From the website:
  • There is something deeply satisfying about writing Backbone.js MVC applications in CoffeeScript, the "little language" designed by the creator of Backbone to make developing JavaScript beautiful.
  • Backbone.coffee explores both the light touch and the awesome power of this charming pair, covering best practices and idioms of Model-View-Controller with Backbone, templating with Eco, testing with Jasmine, mobile applications with Zepto, and integration with platforms including Rails and Node.js.

Thoughtbot - Backbone.js On Rails (e-book)

  • This book is a work in process with a unique twist. They are involving the community and early-purchasers of the book. Buying the book will give you access to their Github repository where you can access the book as it is being written, and review and submitt issues, comments, questions, and suggestions for how they can improve the book.

Recipes With Backbone (e-book)

From the website:
  • This is not the definitive guide to Backbone.js.
  • This is not an introduction to Backbone.js.
  • This is the book you read after you read the tutorial.
  • This is the book that teaches you to kick ass with the hottest Javascript MVC framework around.
This is one of my current favorites. Though I don't agree with everything they say in here, there are enough great examples of solving common problems, that it's well worth the money.

Backbone Fundamentals

  • Addy Osmani is writing an open source book in a Github repository. This looks like it will shape up to be a great book, covering a lot of tips on organizing code and working with Backbone to create large JavaScript applications.

PragProg - Web Development Recipes

  • This book contains an introduction to Backbone.js as one of the many 'recipes'. It's a quick look at creating a product management application in Backbone. If you're looking for an introduction to Backbone, along with some competing frameworks, in a general guide book for successfully solving common web application problems, then you need this book.

O'Reilly - Javascript Web Applications

  • This book takes you through the steps of understanding and building a JavaScript MVC application, from the ground up. It provides insight in to what, why and how MVC frameworks function in the browser. It goes on to illustrate the concepts and code through existing JavaScript MVC frameworks, including Backbone, Spine and others. It also covers packaging and deploying JavaScript applications, (which is a subject that needs more attention, as a whole, in my opinion).

O'Reilly - JavaScript Patterns

  • This book is not directly about Backbone.js. However, writing good Backbone code, understanding how it works and why, and keeping your code clean and organized requires an understanding of object-oriented JavaScript and it's related patterns and best practices. This book will give you the knowledge you need on these fronts. It's the one JavaScript book that I think every JavaScript developer should read.

Screencasts

Other than hands-on training and mentoring, screencasts are my preferred way of learning idiomatic code. Watching other people write code and explain not only what, but why they are making a specific decision is one of the best ways to learn, other than actually doing it yourself.

Hands-on Backbone.js

  • Paid
  • My 4-part screencast series that covers all of the basics of Backbone.js, including every major component, and when and how to use them. This is a no-fluff, down-and-dirty, hands-on screencast series, targeting an introductory level audience that knows they want to use Backbone and doesn't need any more marketing material to sell them on it.

Introduction to Backbone.js

  • Free
  • A 2.5 hour screencast series that walks through a basic introduction to all of the parts of Backbone, and concludes with introduction RequireJS. This series will take you through from intro to release of a simple application.

Backbone.js Screencasts

  • Paid
  • Joey Beninghove Put together a site dedicated to providing Backbone screen casts. In his first episode, he covers 90+ minutes of live coding to build a complete Backbone.js app, from the ground up.

Tekpub - ASP.NET MVC 3, Episode 6

  • Paid (Subscription or Topic Series)
  • The focus of this screencast series if ASP.NET MVC3 development. In episode 6, Rob dives into the use of Backbone.js and integrating it with ASP.NET MVC.

    If you're doing any work on this platform, you should watch this series. If you're integration Backbone.js with it, you need to watch this episode, if not the entire series.

Peepcode - Backbone.js Basics

  • Paid (Subscription or Individual Episode)
  • This episode introduces the core concepts of Backbone and walks through using them directly in your browser. The focus is to get up and running with the bare minimum knowledge of what it takes to work with Backbone's various object types.

Peepcode - Backbone.js Interactivity

  • Paid (Subscription or Individual Episode)
  • This episode takes a deeper dive into building an application with Backbone.js. It picks up where the first episode left off, continuing down the path of building a music player. The focus is to demonstrate how to coordinate and orchestrate the various pieces of a Backbone.js application, creating a rich, interactive web page.

Peepcode - Backbone.js Persistence

  • Paid (Subscription or Individual Episode)
  • This episode wraps up the 3 part series from Peepcode, covering an in depth look at persistence. You'll learn how to use models and collections to store and retrieve data on a server, using JSON.

Railscasts: Backbone On Rails Part 1

  • Paid
  • Ryan Bates put together a whirlwind tour of Backbone's basic features in this ~20 minute screencast on getting Backbone up and running with a Rails 3.2 application. It's well worth the money, even if you're a seasoned rails developer.

Joey Benginhove - Intro & Views

  • Free
  • Joey Beninghove takes a deep dive into Backbone's views, in this screencast, offering up several tips and tricks on code reuse, code organization and more.

Joey Benginhove - Models, Collections & Testing

  • Free
  • Joey Beninghove's second video, a recorded webinar from Develop With Passion, dives into models, collections and testing Backbone.js with the Jasmine test framework. Once again, Joey takes a very deep dive into the Backbone material and provides a great, in-depth discussion.

Andrew Gertif - Rails 3 & Backbone

  • Free
  • Andrew Gertig takes us on a tour of how he set up a very simpleRails 3 application with Backbone.js. He provides several tips and tricks that will get you up and running quickly, including some gotchas to watch out for with Rails apps.

WatchMeCode - Screencasts by Derick Bailey (me)

  • Free and Paid
  • Building solid Backbone applications requires more than just an understanding of the Backbone library. You also need to understand the core of JavaScript, how it works, how to manage scope, and how to write automated tests for it. While my current lit of screencasts does not include Backbone (yet... working on it), my screencasts will help improve your Backbone applications by getting you up to speed on JavaScript fundamentals.