 Resources from Ben Clinkinbeard in 2024

In this course we will learn and demonstrate the fundamental concepts and APIs of D3, on our way to building several common chart types. We’ll start with the building blocks upon which all D3 visualizations are built; things like scales, interpolators, and selections. We’ll see how to load data with D3, and how to put its full name, Data Driven Documents, into action. We’ll build column and bar charts, scatter plots, and area charts. Most importantly, we’ll gain an understanding of the conventions and patterns that underlie all D3 projects and examples, enabling you to dissect, understand, and build virtually any D3 visualization on the internet.

D3.js is a JavaScript library for manipulating documents based on data. D3 helps you bring data to life using HTML, SVG and CSS. D3’s emphasis on web standards gives you the full capabilities of modern browsers without tying yourself to a proprietary framework, combining powerful visualization components and a data-driven approach to DOM manipulation.

Build Interactive JavaScript Charts with D3 v4

This course covers D3 v3. If you'd like to learn about v4 of D3 (the latest version) [click here for the course on that](https://egghead.io/courses/build-interactive-javascript-charts-with-d3-v4).

This series will gently guide you through the first steps in getting to know D3. The curve can be steep, but with a few simple tools, you'll be charting your buns off in no time flat.

Use D3 (v3) to Build Interactive Charts with JavaScript

Express is a minimal web server built on Node.js that provides essential functionality for delivering web applications to the browser and mobile devices. This series will guide you through the first steps of using Express for building your own applications.

Express is a minimal and flexible Node.js web application framework that provides a robust set of features for web and mobile applications.

express

Getting Started with Express.js

Most of D3’s native selection APIs also return the selection (or a new selection), to enable multiple method calls to be chained together. Since the code you write isn’t on the selection prototype, chaining your methods would take some extra work. `selection.call()` will call any function reference you give it, providing the selection as the first parameter, and then it returns the selection for you to ensure chaining is supported.

Better Code Organization with selection.call() with D3 v4

In this lesson you will learn how to support data modification by handling HTTP verbs besides GET. We will look at how to edit, save, and delete content with `.put` and `.delete`.

Save and Delete Content in Express with HTTP Verbs

Making SVGs responsive is unfortunately not as simple as adding some media queries. This lesson introduces the `viewBox` attribute, which is used to control how SVGs scale. We’ll also examine a reusable function that can be used to make nearly any visualization responsive.

Make D3 v4 Charts Responsive with the viewBox attribute

Streams are a big part of Node's famous non-blocking I/O, and Express lets you take full advantage of them. This lesson demonstrates how to integrate streams into your server to improve performance and simplify your code. 

We will look at `.creatReadStream`, `.createWriteStream`, and `.pipe`  to read and write from streams. 

Use Streams in Express

Sometimes you just need to serve existing files. In this lesson we'll examine how to use functionality built into Express to do just that.

Serve static files with express

In D3, the General Update Pattern is the name given to what happens when a data join is followed by operations on the enter, update, and exit selections. When a chart's data changes over time and each update can both create new elements and destroy existing ones, the General Update pattern can help convey meaning to users. This lesson demonstrates the pattern using animated transitions on a column chart.

Animate with the General Update Pattern in D3 v4

As your application grows, it's easy to end up with a long list of route handlers and helper functions. In this lesson we'll look at strategies for keeping things organized and manageable.

We will move individual subpaths into their own file by using `.router` to create an instance of the Express router.

Organize Code by Subpath in Express

AngularJS is an open-source JavaScript framework, maintained by Google, that assists with running single-page applications. Its goal is to augment web-based applications with model–view–controller (MVC) capability, in an effort to make both development and testing easier.

angularjs

The AngularJS $exceptionHandler service allows you to catch and handle unanticipated JavaScript errors in a meaningful way.

Catching errors with $exceptionHandler

Ensuring your charts are responsive is essential if you want them to work regardless of the user's device and screen size. In this lesson we'll learn how the viewBox attribute of SVG elements works, and apply that knowledge to make a future-proof D3 chart.

Responsive D3 charts with the viewBox attribute

Since D3 outputs standard markup, you can use familiar dev tools and inspectors to debug your visualizations. In this lesson we’ll look at how to use Chrome Dev Tools to examine the data associated with your generated markup and experiment with styles to speed up the development process.

Debug D3 v4 with Dev Tools

D3 makes it easy to add meaningful animations to your data visualizations. Whether it’s fading in new items or tweening existing shapes to display new values, adding transitions is easy. This lesson shows you how to add animations while building on your existing knowledge of D3 selections.

Animate Transitions in D3 v4

Create a line chart, then easily convert it to an area chart

Line and Area Charts with D3

JavaScript® (often shortened to JS) is a lightweight, interpreted, object-oriented language with first-class functions, most known as the scripting language for Web pages, but used in many non-browser environments as well such as node.js or Apache CouchDB. It is a prototype-based, multi-paradigm scripting language that is dynamic, and supports object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles.

javascript

It is some times convenient, even necessary, to make use of a module that you are working on before it has been published to the node package manager (npm). The `npm link` command makes this simple.

Using npm link to use node modules that are "in progress"

Mapping abstract values to visual representations is what data visualization is all about, and that’s exactly what D3 scales do. This is usually done using pretty straightforward algorithms, but nothing is straightforward when you’re working with Date objects in JavaScript. If you’re plotting temporal data, you need to use a time scale.

Convert Dates to Numeric Values with Time Scales in D3 v4

Sometimes data needs to be converted from a continuous range, like test scores, to a discrete set of output values, like letter grades. In this lesson we’ll see how to use `d3.scaleQuantize()` to do exactly that.

Create Labels from Numeric Data with Quantize Scales in D3 v4

Integrating D3 with Angular can be very simple. In this lesson, you will learn basic integration as well as how to create D3 charts that can be packaged as AngularJS directives.

Create a D3 Chart as an Angular Directive

As of version 4, D3 is a completely modular tool, composed of many small libraries. You can use them independently or as a whole, and even create custom builds that include only the parts you need. This lesson will review the options available for installing and using D3, and will set up a local environment for rapid experimentation.

Install and Configure D3 v4

When your data contains discrete, non-numeric property values that you need to format or convert before displaying, `d3.scaleOrdinal()` is the API you need. Maybe you need to convert a “pass”/”fail” field to “green”/”red” for coloring your bubble chart? This lesson shows you exactly what to do.

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Ben Clinkinbeard