Preface

JavaScript technologies are playing a much larger role in modern web applications. These application are expected to be rich, interactive, responsive, modular, and maintainable. The applications are often required to redraw parts of the user interface. The data and business logic must be kept separate from the presentation in order to develop modular and maintainable web applications that are interactive and provide a richer user experience. The data and the presentation could then be bound in a way that updates to one would update the other. Similarly, the business logic could be bound to events triggered by the presentation. Developing applications on this design in pure JavaScript can be complex and time-consuming. It becomes evident, to most developers, that a library is required that allows the development of modern web applications without getting into the complexities of binding data, business logic, and presentation. Knockout is one such library.

Knockout is an open source JavaScript library. It reduces the complexities of JavaScript and HTML development by following the stated design principle and implementing the Model-View-View Model (MVVM) design pattern.

One of the best ways to learn a software development technology is by example. Keeping this in mind, my intent has been to provide a practical and hands on learning experience featuring real-world projects. I have drawn on my experience as a software designer and developer to provide you with a practical guide. The inspiration for the content and examples in this book come from my years of experience in developing web applications using JavaScript and, in particular, developing applications using Knockout for a leading financial institution.

If you are new to Knockout, this book is a hands-on guide for you to start creating web applications. With its iterative approach, sample code, and screenshots, this book will take you on a journey of discovering the power of Knockout.

If you are an experienced Knockout developer, this book will give you practical solutions to real-world problems. With advanced topics such as building complex navigations, securing web applications, building services for CRUD operations, and using third party APIs, this book will be your go-to reference.