posts/Jam.mdwn

   1 [Jam][] is a package manager for front-end [JavaScript][].  While you
   2 want to use [[npm|Node]] for server-side stuff, Jam is the tool to use
   3 for JavaScript that you'll be sending to your users.  Following the
   4 [docs][] (with my already-configured [[`~/.local` prefix|Node]]):
   5
   6     $ npm install -g jamjs
   7
   8 Integrating with Django is a bit tricky, especially since Jam doesn't
   9 manage the CSS, images, … that are often associated with JavaScript
  10 libraries.  If you need that, you probably want to look at [[Bower]]
  11 instead.
  12
  13 Write a setup `package.json` defining your project's dependencies:
  14
  15     {
  16       "name": "myproject",
  17       "version": "0.0.1",
  18       "description": "An example project"
  19       "dependencies": {
  20         // NPM dependencies go here…
  21         "async": "0.1.22"
  22       },
  23       "jam": {
  24         "packageDir": "apps/my-app/static/js/",
  25         "baseUrl": "apps/beehive_common",
  26         "dependencies": {
  27           // Jam dependencies go here…
  28           "jquery": "1.7.1",
  29           "underscore": null
  30         }
  31       }
  32     }
  33
  34 Install your dependencies with:
  35
  36     $ jam install
  37
  38 Upgrade with:
  39
  40     $ jam upgrade
  41
  42 Compile just the bits you use into a single require-able replacement.
  43
  44     $ jam compile apps/my-app/static/js/require.js
  45
  46 This last bit is really cool, and where a less JavaScript-oriented
  47 tool like [[Bower]] falls short.  [Jam is using][jam-compile] the
  48 [RequireJS optimizer][optimizer] under the hood for the task, so if
  49 you don't use Jam you can always run the optimizer directly.
  50
  51 [[!tag tags/programming]]
  52 [[!tag tags/tools]]
  53 [[!tag tags/web]]
  54
  55 [Jam]: http://jamjs.org
  56 [JavaScript]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaScript
  57 [docs]: http://jamjs.org/docs
  58 [jam-compile]: https://github.com/caolan/jam/blob/master/lib/commands/compile.js#L8
  59 [optimizer]: http://requirejs.org/docs/optimization.html