These links have been sitting in my bookmarks for months now. There's a lot of tutorials, documentation, and free books. Many are resources that I still reference regularly, especially when developing a new feature or app, or whenever I run into a problem.
Learning JavaScript
- Learning JavaScript Design Patterns - free book by Addy Osmani, probably the book I've studied the most this year
- JavaScript Garden - fantastic documentation on some of the advanced features/quirks of JavaScript
- Functions Explained - Mark Daggett's Blog - deep dive into functions and how they are used to scope
- Understanding JavaScript OOP — Sorella's Basement - explains in detail what's happening when you create and modify objects and their properties
- Eloquent JavaScript - free intro to JS book
- Promise Pipelines in JavaScript - helped me understand $.Deferred and promises in general
- JSbooks - free javascript books
Backbone
I use Backbone on a daily basis and love it. It certainly has it's problems; mostly that it's so un-opinionated you'll spend a lot of time just deciding on the "best" way to handle something. But it is amazingly flexible while still providing excellent structure, especially when combined with Marionette.
- Official Backbone Documentation - I probably visit this on a daily basis
- Getting Started with Backbone.js | Nettuts+
- What is a model? - Backbone.js Tutorials
- Developing Backbone.js Applications - another free book by Addy Osmani, probably my second most referenced resource this year
- A pragmatic guide to Backbone.js apps - brand new book in progress, have't read all of this one yet
Architecture and Build Process
Having been introduced to Grunt and RequireJS, it's hard to imagine starting another project without them.
- RequireJS Fundamentals - good intro to RequireJS by the KendoUI team
- Package Managers: An Introductory Guide For The Uninitiated Front-End Developer - good intro to npm (node package manager) and bower
- Meet Grunt: The Build Tool for JavaScript | Nettuts+ - now that you understand package managers, use them to automate your testing and build process
- Yeoman - Modern workflows for modern webapps - now that you understand the build process, use scaffolding to setup new projects
- Single page apps in depth (new free book) - if you're creating your first or second SPA, this is a great resource
- The client-side templating throwdown - great break down of the pros/cons of many JavaScript template libraries by the LinkedIn dev team.
APIs
- Best Practices for Designing a Pragmatic RESTful API
- Haters gonna HATEOAS — Timeless
- Edmunds Developer Portal I/O Docs - I used this to build Powerrr
Node, Express, and MongoDB
- Meet the Connect Framework | Nettuts+
- Express - api reference
- Creating a basic site with node.js and Express | Shape Shed
- The Node Beginner Book » A comprehensive Node.js tutorial
- Creating a REST API using Node.js, Express, and MongoDB | Christophe Coenraets
- Blog rolling with mongoDB, express and Node.js - How To Node - NodeJS
- Create a Web App with Node.js – Boldr
- pixelhandler: Develop a RESTful API Using Node.js With Express and Mongoose
CouchDB
You've probably heard of MongoDB, but it's not the only NoSQL option available. CouchDB is another document based database that can be easily interfaced with using JavaScript.
- Getting Started with CouchDB - free version of book
- Getting Started with CouchDB | Nettuts+
- CouchDB jQuery Plugin Reference - documentation on the jQuery plugin that ships with CouchDB
- Nano (GitHub) - minimalistic client for CouchDB