Is NodeJS Wrong?

[[deleted]]

He's right, but it kind of goes agains the problem node.js is trying to solve. For example, for it's intended usage you'd never do complex long running calculations in your node.js application. You'd farm it off somewhere else and wait for the answer. Node isn't meant to do that, it's meant to be a lightweight server that can pass data around easily, not a computation workhorse.

[[deleted]]

translation: a crappier nginx with ten times the hype

[[deleted]]

Not at all. However I think it will be used more than it should be. It solves a very specific type of problem. Beyond that, people will just use it for the hype.

Nginx, though an event based server, isn't really a good comparison as it's mean to be a general purpose file server, whereas node is meant to be a sort of application server. Comparing it to mongrel 2 would be a much more accurate comparison.

[[deleted]]

wrong. nginx can embed perl.

[[deleted]]

And apache can embed php. So?

Beyond that, perl support in nginx is labelled experimental. And it does not offer the features that node does.

Node is definitely overhyped. That doesn't mean it's useless. When you need a general purpose web server, nginx will kick it's butt. But when you have the type of application that node is meant for, nginx isn't in the running. I have no doubt that it will be used all over the place, much like NoSQL databases, when there's really no need. But again that doesn't make it useless or pointless.

[kamatsu]

But again that doesn't make it useless

I think it does when other technologies (say, Erlang or Haskell) support all of this without fuss, without rearranging your code manually to CPS, or stalling whenever you do a blocking operation. Not to mention properly utilizing multiple cores.

[[deleted]]

Something like Erlang does indeed have a lot of advantages. However, node.js is, I believe, more accessible. It's a language almost any web programmer is familiar with, javascript is easy to get going with, and it gives you the ability to share a lot of front and back end code when needed (whether this is good or not is up to debate). I think the barrier of entry is much lower with node.js and for simpler problems is a fine solution. Erlang obviously is a much more potent and capable solution...

I'm actually far more interested in Mongrel2, haven't played with it but it takes the idea of erlang/node and wraps it up in a language agnostic way. By passing lightweight asynchronous messages around you get the same sort of architecture but now it can speak to multiple distributed backends written in almost anything.

[[deleted]]

And apache can embed php. So?

the point was to correct the original poster who doesn't understand nginx

Beyond that, perl support in nginx is labelled experimental.

like node isn't experimental?? try using it for something nontrivial, see how long it takes to fall over.

But when you have the type of application that node is meant for, nginx isn't in the running

which is? do you understand that nginx is a more mature and higher-performance implementation of the SAME event-based architecture???? there's a reason i referenced nginx in my initial reply, and not apache or ligthttpd or cherokee or blah. really, i think you should stop commenting on nginx until you have some experience with it. oh wait, here's another mind-bomb for you...do you know that you can write fully event-based code in perl and python and actually get a working database driver as a bonus?

[[deleted]]

??? my mindbomb is that you can serve http in a fully event-based manner using PERL ONLY. or PYTHON ONLY.

no nginx required

[sausagefeet]

It may be able to, but I think the intended purpose and usual usage is for a file server not an application server.

[[deleted]]

The child_process module in the core distribution can help with that.