Opa: Up and Running

Want to simplify web development? This hands-on book shows you how to write frontend and backend code simultaneously, using the Opa framework. Opa provides a complete stack for web application development, including a web server, database engine, distribution libraries, and a programming language that compiles to JavaScript.

You’ll learn step-by-step how to use Opa by building two projects through the course of the book: a wiki application similar to Wikipedia, and a Twitter-like micro-blogging platform. Discover how easy it is to use Opa to develop applications with real-time updates, database interactions, and web service design. Do you have JavaScript experience? You’re ready to get started.

• Learn fundamental concepts, including Opa’s functional programming style
• Discover how Opa compiles to JavaScript, using jQuery on the frontend and Node.js on the server
• Construct HTML resources dynamically and embed static resources on an Opa server
• Use Opa’s method for performing CRUD operations and storing key-value pairs in MongoDB
• Build an Opa user interface with the Bootstrap toolkit from Twitter
• Learn variant types, pattern-matching, polymorphic types, recursive functions, and other advanced features
• Manage user accounts by building login forms, handling account activation, and tracking logged users
• Build a reactive UI—a real-time interface that continuously updates user events