Learning Grunt

Book excerpt: Monitor and automate complex JavaScript tasks and processes by obtaining a practical understanding of Grunt About This Book Gain a solid knowledge of Grunt to achieve better process management by improving consistency, productivity, reliability, and quality of code Install, configure, and use plugins into your project with this hands-on guide This step-by-step tutorial will walk you through practical examples of workflow automation Who This Book Is For If you are a JavaScript developer and want to learn project monitoring and automation using Grunt, then this book is for you. Basic knowledge of Node.js and Angular.js is assumed. However, no previous experience using Grunt.js is required. What You Will Learn Install and configure Grunt and its dependencies such as Node.js and Node Package Manager (NPM) Create a sample application using Angular.JS Configure plugins to perform various tasks that will benefit your project Explore the task-specific methods available through the Grunt API such as configuration, externals, events, and logging Set up tasks to automate the build process of the simple contact application Build, test, and refine a sample project Get general tips, tricks, and troubleshooting strategies to identify and solve common issues in Grunt Advance your knowledge of Grunt with concepts such as configuration variables and test automation In Detail With the increasing focus on task automation, the Grunt task runner is a vast platform that allows you to incorporate automation into your workflows. At the outset, you will learn how to use Node.js and NMP through an example. You will then find out how to build a sample app and the development environment for it. You will further delve into the implementation of Grunt plugins and the configuration of Grunt tasks. Furthermore, you will explore the various methods and packages for workflow automation. The final chapter will cover some advanced concepts, such as configuration variables and how to create a Grunt plugin. By the end of the book, you will have gained the fundamentals of Grunt and progressed through advanced concepts, including building a Grunt plugin. Style and approach This book is an easy-to-follow, step-by-step tutorial that provides explanations and examples of deploying Grunt from scratch.