Using Meteor to quickly develop WEB applications

Meteor is a new WEB application development platform that is being widely adopted internationally. Meteor is not just a JavaScript coding framework, it also provides an innovative way to build scalable, interactive, rich Web applications. By simplifying the coding model and reducing the amount of code that developers must write, Meteor has the potential to accelerate the development cycle. With Meteor, an experienced WEB application architect and developer can take days or weeks to complete the entire process from concept to full deployment, rather than months or longer as usual.

For step-by-Step guidance on installing the Meteor platform and starting to use it for development, the DeveloperWorks article "using Meteor to easily develop a live web site" is a good reference. In this latest article, I'll delve deeper into Meteor development with two detailed application examples, and outline the architecture of Meteor. With this knowledge, you can determine for yourself whether the fast Web application creation on Meteor is right for you.

Looking at the future from the perspective of the past

Meteor's approach is revolutionary in a sense, but there are some aspects that come through evolution. It continues to use the same it path as a major success story in computer history: Spreadsheet software. Figure 1 shows a typical spreadsheet example-a Sales by Region spreadsheet that contains a pie chart:

Figure 1. Sales by Regions Spreadsheet

Try a common spreadsheet

You can try the spreadsheet in Figure 1, which is part of the sample code download for this article. Change any sales data, and you'll see that the pie chart will be updated automatically.

If you modify any area sales data in the sales by Region spreadsheet, the total sales data (not shown) also changes, and the pie chart is immediately redrawn to reflect the new relative proportions of each slice.

Now, this spreadsheet is neither novel nor interesting. But back in 1983, when Lotus 1-2-3 revealed these features to early PC users, you were able to appreciate the impact. Until then, no one could have done so much work with so little programming. Although the spreadsheet software was initially not intuitive, most users were able to manipulate it skillfully in a few days. Spreadsheet software is still one of the killer apps that drives global PC sales.

Fast forward 30 years

30 years after the advent of the first spreadsheet software, you can see that the spreadsheet has been developed Meteor. Figure 2 shows the Sales Portal Web application that was created using Meteor in 2013:

Figure 2. Sales Portal WEB Application