Book Review: Web Development with Jade

Over the last two years I've been building commercial and open-source Node.js projects and I've been using the Jade template engine almost exclusively ever since.

That is why I've got so used with it that I now find writing plain old "vanilla" HTML code rather cumbersome and unproductive.
That's also why, even since the early days of the project, I've introduced support for compiling Jade templates in ASPAX, arguably the simplest Node.js asset packager you can use.

Until recently I've been under the impression that there's not much more I can learn about it - until I found an excellent book, Web Development with Jade by Sean Lang:

While the "official" Jade website is pretty good, this book will also give you, in Chapter 1, a brief overview of the current markup preprocessor engines landscape and a nice explanation of how Jade really works, in both pictures and code. It will also show you why Jade is so cool compared to other alternatives out there, due to its concision and clarity.

Chapters 2 through 7 will teach you everything about writing Jade code, starting with the basic syntax, working with data, flow control logic and even touching advanced topics like filters, mixins and template inheritance.

Chapter 8, undoubtedly one of the most valuable pieces of information in the book, will teach you how to structure the presentation-related code in your application.

So, if you're looking to become a professional JavaScript/Node.js developer or you already are one but you're looking for a well-written Jade reference to consolidate your skills, you should definitely have a look at Web Development with Jade.