Like myself there must be many of you who have come across this expression prior to reading this post “As Rails is to Ruby, so Meteor is to Node.js as Rails is to Ruby” and I think that’s a good comparison. If you are looking to build web or mobile apps in pure JavaScript – Meteor, is one of the most recommended, complete open-source platform. It makes development a delightful experience, while accelerating the development velocity and making development a fun process (True it is J)!
From a developer’s eye: What is in it for me?
- Modern user interface: Just not bunch of pages but an app comparable to most loved ones – Facebook, Twitter etc.
- Isomorphic APIs: Same code in same language for client and server
- Radically less to code: Reactive programming model that extends from database to UI
- Unified package system: Single package across mobile, browser, servers
- Hot deployment: Single command to push to production
- Ultra responsive: Changes made by developer are instantly visible
While the platform is strong in itself, few of the testing tools, frameworks, and libraries enhance the product capabilities and make development and “enjoyable” process (indeed!). So lets look upon some useful Tools for Meteor developers in our todays post.
Testing Tools
1. Laika: – Testing Framework for Meteor
Laika is a testing framework for meteor that simplifies writing tests and interacts with both – server and clients. The tests are against actual application and not some mock/stub thereby making the tests even more accurate.
Also Check: 15 Great Startups & Apps Built with Meteor
2. Velocity: – Meteor’s Official Testing Framework
Velocity is a community as well as a testing framework that allows for common testing components to be shared across different testing frameworks. The packages include: Mocha, Jasmine, Cucumber, Casper, and Robot.
Also Read: 10 Useful Resources for Meteor Developers
3. Gagarin – Testing Framework very Similar to Laika
Gagarin is a Mocha based testing framework for Meteor. It allows automation of all the testing activities otherwise executed manually through meteor shell.
Integrated Development Environment
4. Sublime Text 3
Slava Kim, a Meteor engineer developed a Tern.js automcomplete plugin for Sublime Text 3. One can also use Meteor snippets for Sublime Text3 which is a huge list of snippets and very easy to use.
Also See: 11 Insightful Tutorials for Meteor Developers
5. Jetbrains WebStorm
WebStorm integrates with Meteor to provide automatic recognition of Meteor projects, automatic library attachment, syntax highlighting, code completion, resolving references and other coding assistance, running and debugging of server/client apps.
6. Atom
Atom ecosystem has several packages to assist Meteor development. The Meteor API provides grammar/syntax highlighting, code snippets, and autocomplete. Launching/killing of Meteor within Atom can be done through Meteor Helper.
7. Cloud 9
Cloud 9 is a popular cloud based IDE. It has a Meteor workspace where a Meteor project can be set up without having to configure anything i.e. just two clicks to build the next awesome app.
Also Check: 8 Reusable Apps for Your Meteor Projects
8. Meteor Tools for Visual Studio
Meteor Tools for Visual Studio integrates Meteor in to Visual Studio IDE and provides developers with syntax highlights, templates, and much more.
Others
9. Meteor Kitchen
Developers can use the code generator for Meteor.js called “Meteor Kitchen” to build an entire Meteor application using – directory structure, collections (pubs & subs), router and route controllers, layout, pages (with content), menus, dataviews, and forms.
Also Read: 9 Books to Get You Started with Meteor Development
10. Meteor.toys
This premium package of tools includes handy development tools to make Meteor development experience fun! It provides a visual interface to some core meteor features. The basic version provides access to editing tool for MongoDB, and Jetsetter (for session variables).
Meteor – The JavaScript app platform offers almost everything for a pure JavaScript development, and create apps that are delighting and faster than ever. The plugins and other tools listed above are cherries on this cake. You can make the development “no more boring” with this exciting and highly powerful plugins.
Are you also A Meteor geek? Or just a newbie developer and yet have anything to add to this list? Feel free to post your thoughts in comments section below. If we have a rationale to replace any of the 10 entries in the list above – we do so! Happy Meteoring!
