Meteor
DeveloperMeteor Software
Released[1]
Operating systemCross-platform
RepoMeteor Repository
Programming languageJavaScript
GenreJavaScript framework
LicenseMIT License

Meteor, or MeteorJS, is a free and open-source isomorphic JavaScript web framework[2] written using Node.js. Meteor allows for rapid prototyping and produces cross-platform (Android, iOS, Web) code. The server-side MongoDB program is the only proprietary component of Meteor and is part of the Meteor download bundle. It is possible to use Meteor without using the server-side MongoDB. It uses the Distributed Data Protocol and a publish–subscribe pattern to automatically propagate data changes to clients without requiring the developer to write any synchronization code.

Meteor uses JavaScript as its primary programming language, enabling developers to use a single language for both client-side and server-side code.[citation needed] This approach can streamline the development process for mobile applications by reducing the need for additional programming languages.[citation needed] On the client, Meteor can be used with any popular front-end JS framework.[citation needed]

Meteor is developed by Meteor Software. The startup was incubated by Y Combinator[3] and received $11.2M in funding from Andreessen Horowitz in July 2012.[4] Meteor raised an additional $20M in Series B funding from Matrix Partners, Andreessen Horowitz and Trinity Ventures.[5] It intends to become profitable by offering Galaxy, an enterprise-grade hosting environment for Meteor applications.[6]

History

Having been in development for about eight months, Meteor was initially released in December 2011 under the name Skybreak.[7] By April 2012, the framework was renamed Meteor and officially launched.[8] During the next few months, and with the help of large investments from Andreessen Horowitz and endorsements from high-profile figures in the startup world,[8] Meteor steadily increased its user base. It became more commonly used in production apps and websites.

Particularly after receiving large amounts of venture capital in its Series B funding round, Meteor acquired and integrated several other startups into its core product. Acquisitions have included FathomDB, a cloud database startup,[9] Galaxy, a cloud platform for operating and managing Meteor applications,[10] and Kadira, a performance monitoring solution.[11] Meteor has successfully monetized its userbase: In 2016, Meteor beat its own revenue goals by 30% by offering web hosting for Meteor apps through Galaxy.[12]

From 2016 the Meteor Development Group (the open source organisation powering Meteor) started working on a new backend layer based on GraphQL to gradually replace their pub/sub system, largely isolated in the whole node.js ecosystem: the Apollo framework.

In October 2019, the Meteor.js open source framework and Galaxy Hosting Products were purchased by Tiny Capital and renamed Meteor Software.[13]

Distributed Data Protocol

Distributed Data Protocol (or DDP) is a client–server protocol for querying and updating a server-side database and for synchronizing such updates among clients. It uses the publish–subscribe messaging pattern. It was created for use by the Meteor JavaScript framework.[14] The DDP Specification is located on GitHub.[15]

Blaze

Blaze
TitleBlaze
PlatformWeb platform
Genrefront-end web framework
LicenseMIT License
Websitewww.blazejs.org

Blaze is a front-end web framework that was first published on 27 March 2014 as a part of Meteor v0.8.0, replacing for the former Spark templating engine.[16] It was split out from Meteor on 13 September 2016 at version v2.1.9.[17] It contains the compiled templating system Spacebars, a variant of Handlebars.

Books

  • Coleman, Tom; Greif, Sacha – Discover Meteor (2014)[18]
  • Hochhaus, Stephan; Schoebel, Manuel – Meteor in Action (2014)[19]
  • Müns, Philipp – Auditing Meteor Applications (2016)
  • Strack, Isaac – Getting started with Meteor.js JavaScript framework (2012)[20]
  • Susiripala, Arunoda – Bulletproof Meteor (2014)[21]
  • Titarenco, David; Robinson, Josh; Gray, Aaron – Introducing Meteor (2015)[22]
  • Susiripala, Arunoda – Meteor Explained – A Journey Into Meteor's Reactivity (2014)[23]
  • Turnbull, David – Your First Meteor Application: A Complete Beginner's Guide to the Meteor JavaScript Framework (2014)[24]

Packages and tools

  • InjectDetect – database injection attack detection[25]
  • Vulcan.js – React/GraphQL stack built on top of Meteor[26]
  • Apollo – GraphQL server with support for Meteor
  • Meteor React Native - Package to integrate with React Native[27]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Bump to version 0.1.1 · meteor/meteor@4e4358e". GitHub
  2. ^ Vanian, Jonathan (27 December 2014). "Meteor wants to be the warp drive for building real-time apps". Gigaom. Archived from the original on 31 December 2014.
  3. ^ Tan, Garry. "Meteor (YC S11) raises $11.2M from Andreessen Horowitz and Matrix Partners to create the next Ruby on Rails". Y Combinator
  4. ^ Finley, Klint (2012-07-25). "Andreessen Horowitz Keeps Eating The Software World With $11.2 Million Investment In JavaScript Framework Company Meteor". TechCrunch
  5. ^ "Announcing our $20m Series B Funding – Meteor Blog". Meteor Blog. 2015-05-19. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  6. ^ "Meteor's new $11.2 million development budget – Meteor Blog". meteor.com. 25 July 2012.
  7. ^ "Skybreak is now Meteor – Meteor Blog". meteor.com. 20 January 2012.
  8. ^ "Meteor: Etherpad Founder & Other Rockstars Team Up To Make Web App Development A Breeze – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. 11 April 2012.
  9. ^ Lardinois, Frederic (2014-10-07). "Meteor Acquires YC Alum FathomDB For Its Development Platform". TechCrunch
  10. ^ DeBergalis, Matt (2015-10-05). "Announcing Meteor Galaxy". Meteor Blog. Retrieved 2017-02-03.
  11. ^ "MDG acquires Kadira APM – Meteor Blog". Meteor Blog. 2017-03-24. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  12. ^ "Meteor in 2017 – Meteor Blog". Meteor Blog. 2017-01-26. Retrieved 2017-11-20.
  13. ^ "Tiny Acquires Meteor". 2017-01-26.
  14. ^ "Introducing DDP". Retrieved 2013-05-29.
  15. ^ "DDP Specification". GitHub. Retrieved 2014-04-24.
  16. ^ "v0.8.0, 2014-03-27". Meteor history. Retrieved 2025-12-22. – via GitHub
  17. ^ "v2.1.9, 2016-Sep-13". Blaze history. Retrieved 2025-12-22. – via GitHub
  18. ^ Coleman, Tom & Grief, Sacha. Discover Meteor. Archived from the original on 2016-04-20. Retrieved 2015-02-02.
  19. ^ Hochhaus, Stephan & Schoebel, Manuel (2014). Meteor in Action. Manning. ISBN 9781617292477.
  20. ^ Strack, Isaac (2012). Getting started with Meteor.js JavaScript framework. New ed. Birmingham, UK: Packt Pub. ISBN 978-1782160823.
  21. ^ Susiripala, Arunoda. "Bulletproof Meteor". Meteorhacks
  22. ^ Robinson, Josh (2015-12-30). Introducing Meteor. [Berkeley, CA]. ISBN 9781430268352. OCLC 934083393
  23. ^ Susiripala, Arunoda. "Meteor Explained: A Journey Into Meteor's Reactivity". Meteorhacks
  24. ^ Turnbull, David (30 July 2014). Your First Meteor Application
  25. ^ "Inject Detect". www.injectdetect.com. Archived from the original on 9 March 2017. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  26. ^ "VulcanJS: The full-stack React+GraphQL framework". vulcanjs.org. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  27. ^ "meteor-react-native". github.com. Retrieved 2021-05-23.