Ask HN: Why all Backbone resources seem to be outdated?

As people are saying, the source is a great way to start.... Although I landed on many best practices through trial and error.

Marionette (http://marionettejs.com/) will maybe help you see its shortcomings (since it fills those gaps, although I don't personally use it).

Some pro tips:

* Figure out how sync works (when save() calls POST vs. PUT).

* Figure out how this.el works

* Learn the difference between router.navigate('/fun') and router.navigate('/fun', { trigger: true }).

* Learn the difference between url() and urlRoot(), and step through the backbone code with the chrome debugger as it determines a model's URL.

* Look at what delegateEvents() does.

* Learn about .listenTo() and how .remove() can alleviate view zombies.

Backbone might not be the cool kid anymore (maybe React is).

I found it to be a good framework for small apps (not those single page JS application).

While I was learning Backbone I didn't find any really good tutorial, but eventually I figure out an usage and style which suits me.

At times I do wish Backbone would be a "complete and opinionated framework", but I figured out a way to use it to build small UI components. I didn't use the Router components, but combination of model and view does wonder.

The library itself is so small you can simply read through the annotated source in half an hour: http://backbonejs.org/docs/backbone.html

There is a trend towards more complete frameworks, but Backbone is still in use by many high-profile companies. Learning how it works is a small investment of time, and should give you nice insights for understanding larger & more complex projects.

Surely the quality and freshness of the documentation is a function of the momentum and support a certain technology has. Maybe you can find a similar tech that has tutorials that really appeal to you, that feel like they open a door to a wonderful new world?

Backbone is small because it doesn't do that much. After learning Backbone I regretted wasting so much time learning how to do simple things like nest views correctly. Backbone made me really long for a complete and opinionated framework.