Appendix C. Popular libraries
While learning to program in CoffeeScript, it’s important to deal only in language concepts and to build up programs using only the raw building blocks of the language instead of leaning too heavily on specific libraries or frameworks. Having said that, once you have learned CoffeeScript, there are many occasions when it makes sense to reach for a well-known and supported library or framework that takes an approach similar to your own.
What follows is a list of useful libraries and relevant websites for learning about them. In some cases the libraries are not only useful in your CoffeeScript programs but are themselves written in CoffeeScript—those libraries are indicated here.
Although you’ve had experience with npm (the package manager that comes with Node.js), there are many aspects of it (such as dependency management) that you haven’t explored. Find out more about npm at http://npmjs.org/.
In chapter 10 you built up your own small testing framework. There are several excellent frameworks that can help to extend your testing prowess: