node.js

So I’m still learning new things every other day about modern web frameworks, and was not expecting to come across node.js.

I learned about it from an interview at pseudocoder.com with lead CakePHP developer Nate Abele, who confesses that he would be using node.js if CakePHP did not exist.

Now get this: node.js is a server-side JavaScript framework. I may just be ignorant and uninformed, but that sounds plain crazy to me.

As it happens, the example on the front page of the framework’s website outlines how to write a simple webserver using the framework in 8 lines of code. There’s also a demo chat-server running on the site, with both server and client written in JavaScript, and source code available.

The about-blurb is hard to grasp if you are not into the inner workings of operating systems and server applications, but sounds very interesting and innovative. I would never dream of considering JavaScript on the server side for a high-volume website – but now I will!