--- title: "This week's JavaScript news, issue 261" publication: "JavaScript Weekly" issue: 261 published_at: "2015-12-04" canonical_url: "https://javascriptweekly.com/issues/261" --- This week's JavaScript news, issue 261 This week's JavaScript news — [Read this e-mail on the Web](http://javascriptweekly.com/issues/261) JavaScript WeeklyIssue 261 — December 4, 2015[Must See JavaScript Dev Tools](https://medium.com/javascript-scene/must-see-javascript-dev-tools-that-put-other-dev-tools-to-shame-aca6d3e3d925) A great walk through some of the greatest JavaScript developer tools that currently exist and why an experienced developer uses them. Eric Elliott [Why Larger Frameworks Beat Joining Together 'Microlibraries'](https://www.reddit.com/r/javascript/comments/3v43qf/im_a_web_developer_who_uses_jquery_to_write_a/cxkl9d1)Tom Dale (Ember core team) makes an interesting case for why frameworks like Angular or Ember are an attractive alternative to smaller libraries. Reddit [Labella.js: For Non-Overlapping Labels Along Lines](http://twitter.github.io/labella.js/) If you need to label numerous points along a line, working out where to place the labels could be tricky. Labella handles it elegantly; [see the examples.](http://twitter.github.io/labella.js/basic_down.html) Twitter [![Frontend Masters\](https://copm.s3.amazonaws.com/27904733.png)](https://frontendmasters.com/courses/modern-web-apps/?utm_source=javascriptweekly&utm_medium=email)[New Course: Building Modern Web Apps (with React, Ampersand, ES6 Webpack)](https://frontendmasters.com/courses/modern-web-apps/)Learn everything you need to build and deploy a maintainable single page app. This course covers a broad range of topics as we build an app from scratch using React, Ampersand, ES6 (ES2015), and Webpack. Frontend MastersSponsor [Split.js: A Library to Create Adjustable Split Views / Panes](https://github.com/nathancahill/Split.js) No dependencies, just provide two elements with a common parent. Works horizontally or vertically and provides draggable gutters. Nathan Cahill [Reagent: JavaScript Testing Utilities for React](https://github.com/airbnb/reagent) Mimics jQuery’s API for DOM manipulation and traversal and should be compatible with all major test runners and assertion libraries. Airbnb [Configuring Babel 6](http://www.2ality.com/2015/11/configuring-babel6.html) Babel 6 is more configurable than Babel 5, but it can be trickier to do, so Axel Rauschmayer shares some handy tips with us here. Dr. Axel Rauschmayer [V8's Random Number Generator Updated](https://code.google.com/p/v8/issues/detail?id=4566) After some recent criticism of the quality of Math.random’s output on V8/in Chrome, it has received [some updates.](https://codereview.chromium.org/1464303002/diff/140001/src/base/utils/random-number-generator.cc) Google Jobs - [Senior JavaScript Engineer at Twitch](https://jobs.lever.co/twitch/b70d9cec-5fef-4d40-a77b-a337ad5ba15e?utm_source=javascriptweekly&utm_medium=email)Twitch is building the future of interactive entertainment and we’re looking for someone who brings JavaScript application development experience and technical leadership, around whom we can build a focused team to execute on one of our core product areas. Twitch - [JavaScript Front End Developer, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (full time)](http://grnh.se/x73sd8?utm_source=javascriptweekly&utm_medium=email)We are hiring the best Front End developers to join our international top-talent team in Amsterdam. We want you to have the freedom to make an impact on millions of users worldwide and keep us innovating. Booking.com - [Want to spend less time job searching? Join in 1 min and the best startups will come to you.](https://underdog.io/?utm_source=newsletters&utm_medium=javascriptweekly&utm_content=spendlesstimev2&utm_campaign=q4_15)If you’re accepted, startup decision-makers will email you as soon as next Monday. You decide where to interview and where to work. Now open in SF, NYC, and remote. Join the Underdog.io platform today. Underdog.IO In Brief [Node v5.1.1 (Stable) Released](https://nodejs.org/en/blog/release/v5.1.1) news node An important security release. Node Foundation [JSFiddle Gets A Facelift](https://medium.com/jsfiddle-updates/the-lifting-cb3c9f216c2f) news Oskar Krawczyk [New Webinar: Why Redux is the future of Angular 2 and React](http://go.rangle.io/angular-react-redux?utm_campaign=Webinar%3A%20Redux%20-%20January&utm_medium=enewsletter&utm_source=JS%20Weekly) news From reducers and pure functions, to pairing Redux with React and Angular, hear from our CTO Yuri Takhteyev why you should be using Redux for your next application. Rangle.ioSponsor [JS Remote Conf: An Online JavaScript Conference in January 2016](https://jsremoteconf.com/#20166666) news CFP is open for another week if you want to speak. [Using ES6 on AWS Lambda](http://www.rricard.me/es6/aws/lambda/nodejs/2015/11/29/es6-on-aws-lambda.html) tutorial Robin Ricard [Rotate Graphical Elements on Scroll with JavaScript](http://thenewcode.com/279/Rotate-Elements-on-Scroll-with-JavaScript) tutorial Dudley Storey [Rendering Image Previews Using Object URLs vs. Base64 Data URIs in Angular](http://www.bennadel.com/blog/2966-rendering-image-previews-using-object-urls-vs-base64-data-uris-in-angularjs.htm) tutorial Object URLs are URLs that point to files on disk and are supported by the latest versions of all major browsers. Ben Nadel [5 Essential Ember 2.0 Concepts You Must Understand](http://emberigniter.com/5-essential-ember-2.0-concepts/) tutorial Ember Igniter [How to Build a Todo App Using React, Redux, and Immutable.js](http://www.sitepoint.com/how-to-build-a-todo-app-using-react-redux-and-immutable-js/) tutorial SitePoint [Interactive Geographical Map with SVG and JavaScript](http://thenewcode.com/272/Interactive-Geographical-Map-with-SVG-and-JavaScript) tutorial Dudley Storey [An Introduction to ClojureScript](http://www.sitepoint.com/introduction-to-clojurescript/) tutorial A popular Clojure to JavaScript compiler. Kev Zettler [Tips for Building Your First Meteor App](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPotMxLAhl8) video Anders Ramsay [What Is Considered 'Expert' Knowledge in JavaScript?](https://www.reddit.com/r/javascript/comments/3v7zpt/what_is_considered_expert_knowledge_in_javascript/) opinion Reddit [A React Custom Renderer using Web Workers?](http://blog.nparashuram.com/2015/12/react-web-worker-renderer.html) opinion Is a custom renderer for React using Web Workers to run Virtual DOM diffing calculations faster? Parashuram N [A Look at JavaScript Beyond the Web in 2015](http://www.sitepoint.com/javascript-beyond-the-web-in-2015/) opinion Patrick Catanzariti [Moving Bugsnag's Front-end to React - What We Learned](https://bugsnag.com/blog/moving-bugsnags-frontend-to-react) opinion Bugsnag [Performance metrics for Angular](https://opbeat.com/angularjs/?utm_source=javascriptweekly&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_content=&utm_campaign=angularbeta) tools Get a breakdown of the digest cycle including AJAX, templating, services cache calls. See how each controller spends its time and what’s slowing your app. [Sign up to the private beta.](https://opbeat.com/angularjs/?utm_source=javascriptweekly=newsletter==angularbeta) OpbeatSponsor [Phoenix 2.0 Released: An OS X Window Manager Scriptable with JavaScript](https://github.com/kasper/phoenix/) tools Kasper Hirvikoski [Dream.js: JSON Sample Data Generator from Provided Schemas](https://github.com/adleroliveira/dreamjs) tools code Adler Oliveira [Babel Contracts: Design by Contract for JS via a Babel Plugin](https://github.com/codemix/babel-plugin-contracts) code codemix [PureSlider: A Lightweight, No-Dependency Image Slider Library](https://github.com/djyde/PureSlider) code Randy Lu [Highway: Fast and Simple JavaScript Routing Library with No Dependencies](https://github.com/ashh640/Highway) code Ashley Hunter [react-snowstorm: A Snow Effect Component for React](https://github.com/burakcan/react-snowstorm) code Only letting this through because it’s December ;-) [Demo.](http://burakcan.github.io/react-snowstorm/) Burak Can [Cropper.js: A JavaScript Image Cropper](http://fengyuanchen.github.io/cropperjs/) code Fengyuan Chen [React Progress 2: A YouTube Style Progress Bar for React.js](http://milworm.github.io/react-progress-2/) code Ruslan Prytula Curated by [Peter Cooper](http://twitter.com/peterc) and published by [Cooperpress](https://cooperpress.com/). 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