What is Ember.js? As defined by Wikipedia, it’s an open-source JavaScript web framework, utilizing a component-service pattern. This framework is roughly 5 years old at the time of writing this article. The stable version was released in November of 2016 but it was first released in 2011 as “SproutCore MVC framework”.
What is it used for?
Ember.js is great for developing web applications and can also be used for building mobile apps as well. Ember is a widely used front end framework that has been adopted by well-known companies such as LinkedIn, Groupon, and Twitch.
Ember.js uses the MVC (Model View Controller) to write better-structured code. So you can use it to build SPA (Single Page Applications) web applications and native apps. It’s optimized when you use it for the entirety of the front end of the application. When compared to other frameworks that use the MVC model, Ember.js uses a more organized way to write code. It makes use of the syntaxes from JavaScript and a templating language from Ember.
Here are some of the key features of Ember.js when considering using the framework.
Build Process
Ember comes with a built-in CLI (Command Line Interface). This CLI has great features such as fast rebuilds, auto-reload, and a test runner. You can build the application using a single command.
Routing
Ember has a built-in router to incorporate asynchronous data loading with dynamic URL segments and query parameters. When writing web applications, each page should be represented by the URL so if the page needs to be refreshed for any particular reason, the user will not experience any issues with the views.
Ember Data
Can be used to format requests, normalize responses, and manage the local cache of data. In addition, you can use Ember with any back end when using different built-in adapters. Ember data can gain you access to different sources such as setup asynchronous relationships, and keep models up-to-date throughout the application.
Testing
It’s standard practice to write tests when building out new features on your application. To help you with these tests, you can use the Ember test selectors addon to help write tests that can be more resilient to DOM changes.
Performance
Ember uses the Glimmer rendering engine, which is one of the highest-performing rendering technologies. Glimmer lets you build JavaScript components for the web and renders them at high speeds. This makes Ember.js one of the high-performing front-end frameworks available.
Upgrades
You can expect new updates with Embers 6-week update cycle. You can find out about all of the new features that are included in each release by reading Ember.js blog articles here.
Try out Ember.js today.