Shoreline: A Google Closure Project Template

Google Closure is a suite of tools for building scalable JavaScript software. I've used it in numerous projects with success.

Closure's biggest limitation is complexity. It can take thirty minutes or more just to get a new project set up and debugged. And if you're new to Closure, that time can stretch into hours or days.

My solution is Shoreline, a complete template for Closure projects. With it, you can:

• Create BDD-style tests using Jasmine.
• Autotest your project (save any file and your Jasmine test-suite re-runs).
• Build and compile your project using Jake.

The directory structure is set up according to a system I've been using and improving over the course of a year:

• build is created by Jake and contains dependencies and compiled JavaScript.
• html contains html files used to display your application or parts of it. index.html displays your application using uncompiled JavaScript. index-compiled.html runs your project as compiled JavaScript.
• lib contains library dependencies, which can be added as Git submodules.
• spec test files written with Jasmine.
• src your project's source files, optionally grouped into packages.
• stylesheets CSS files used with the HTML files.

To set up a Shoreline project:

git clone git@github.com:metamolecular/shoreline.git
cd shoreline
git submodule init
git submodule update
npm install jake

To create dependencies and view the sample code in all of its glory, use:

jake

Then open the html/index.html file. To view the spec suite, open spec/suite.html.

If you've already installed Node.js, there's nothing else to download or install.