Abstract

This article is targeted towards both beginner and experienced developers who have some knowledge of JavaScript and Networking Application Development.
This Article will give you a brief introduction of Meteor JS and also answer your questions such as why should you start using Meteor JS, what it can do, why it is so powerful and how to install, setup and start using it.

Introduction

Quoting in Meteor’s own words, “Meteor is a full-stack JavaScript platform for developing modern web and mobile applications”.

Meteor is an ultra-simple environment for building modern applications, moreover, it allows you to build for any device, web, IOS, and Android while utilizing technologies you have familiarity with.

Since it is a full-stack framework, you can develop hassle-free. As you need to concern yourself with only one programming language JavaScript from frontend to backend and that too within a single environment. The reason why Meteor is able to do so much and is so powerful is that it has been built on the concept from other frameworks and libraries in a way that makes it easy to create a mock-up of applications. Essentially, it makes web development easier. It’s flexible and requires less code, which means fewer bugs and quality and a more stable result.

Why use Meteor JS

The stand out accord is that Meteor is incredibly easy to learn. As every mammoth framework likes to boast their ‘simplicity & performance’, Meteor is capable of delivering on these promises.

The usage stats posted on various websites depict the ever-growing popularity of Meteor.js. Some of the reasons why it is so and why the popularity of Meteor.js will remain intact in the future are:

1. Meteor is very simple to learn and work upon

Unlike many other popular full-stack frameworks, you do not have to rely on multiple languages. Any semi-experienced JS developer/s could be handed over a Meteor project with a decent structure, what they can pick it up and get it running quickly.

2. It is faster to build Applications with Meteor

The speed comes from its ample scaffolding, libraries, and excellent community-authored packages that make up for most of the shortcomings and gaps in requirements.

3. It is a Full Stack Framework

As a full-stack framework, it comes with compatible but changeable parts of the stack. The developers can take advantage of the features provided by Meteor.js to create both the backend and frontend user interface of the application rapidly. Developers can even modify these compatible tasks according to their needs.

4. Supports MVC Design Rule

Like other modern frameworks, Meteor supports the MVC design principle. The support makes it easier for programmers to develop large scale software applications rapidly by keeping the user interface and business logic layers separated. The separation further enables developers to maintain scalability and update the application smoothly in the future.

5. Facilitates Automatic UI Data Refresh

Meteor is real-time by default, hence it provides the functionality to auto-update the UI for any change in the document or in the Database collections, so there is no need to refresh the screen as it updates it automatically. This makes meteor more perfect for real-time collaborations.

6. Variety of Packages and APIs

The developers can avail a variety of Meteor packages and a number of APIs to add functionalities and perform various network actions within the application without writing additional code. The members of the Meteor community frequently upload new packages and APIs to meet the emerging needs of software developers.

7. Active and Supportive Community

There is a passionate community of web developers using Meteor. More than that, a large number of blogs, resources, and even online learning platforms have emerged to discuss and train others for this framework. Meteor’s popularity can be seen by the fact that it is one of the most starred repositories on Github, with 41,289 stars at the time of writing this article.

Install Meteor JS

Meteor supports OS X, Linux, and windows.
There are different ways to install Meteor on Windows and OS X\Linux.

On Linux/OS X
Install the latest official Meteor release from your terminal using the line,

curl https://install.meteor.com/ | sh

On Windows

First, install Chocolatey,
It can be installed through Command prompt in administrator mode by using the command,

@”%SystemRoot%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe” -NoProfile -InputFormat None -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command “iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString(‘https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1’))” && SET “PATH=%PATH%;%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\chocolatey\bin”

Also, it can be installed by power shell in administrator mode but you must ensure Get-ExecutionPolicy is not restricted. To check it run Get-ExecutionPolicy. If it returns true, then run Set-ExecutionPolicy AllSigned or Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process. Now run the following command:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString(‘https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1’))

Now after installing Chocolaty use the following command to install meteor,

choco install meteor

Important:- There’s another way to install meteor on windows without using chocolaty, you can install meteor by downloading the installer available at https://install.meteor.com/windows and you can refer the installation script for more information on this.

Running Meteor

Once you’ve installed Meteor, create a project:

meteor create myapp

Run it locally:

cd myapp
meteor npm install
Meteor
# Meteor server running on http://localhost:3000/

You can even run meteor on a different port

Meteor run –port 8000

Uninstalling Meteor

Meteor installs itself inside your system’s home directory. To uninstall Meteor, use:

rm -rf ~/.meteor/
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/meteor

On Windows, run the uninstaller from your Control Panel.
Meteor comes with npm bundled so that you can type meteor npm without caring about installing it yourself. If you like, you can even use a globally installed npm to handle your packages.