43 ms·

So how do you explain Node.js being so popular?

by kowdermeister 9y ago

monocasa 9y ago
Because frontend devs migrated to the backend and didn't want to learn a better language.
- eropple 9y ago
  And those of us who went to it from those ostensibly "better" languages...? Go on. Say we're "wrong". I could use a chuckle. :)
  - tytytytytytytyt 9y ago
    Not wanting to use those better languages is effectively the same in this case. But you mentioned it being wrong first...
    - eropple 9y ago
      Because I'm rather tired of the silly claims. I write Rust. I write Kotlin. I write C++. I write Ruby. And I also write JavaScript. Horses for courses--and the mind-meltingly stupid sneering nonsense should just end. Just...end. I used to smarm about it. I was wrong to. You should stop, because you are wrong now.
      - tytytytytytytyt 9y ago
        > Because I'm rather tired of the silly claims. I write Rust. I write Kotlin. I write C++. I write Ruby. And I also write JavaScript. I never made any such 'claims', but I'm happy for you. I enjoy those things, too... > and the mind-meltingly stupid sneering nonsense should just end. Just...end. I used to smarm about it. I was wrong to. You're the one sneering, smarming, etc. and attempting to create drama. I never said anything about using Node being bad. Maybe you should re-read what I wrote? > You should stop, because you are wrong now. Hey, keep believing that if it makes you feel better.
  - pjmlp 9y ago
    What about, we need to pimp up our CVs for HR department drone filters?
- always_good 9y ago
  Suggesting tha Node is only used by lazy front-end developers does nothing but show how condescending and uncharitable you are towards other people who picked different trade-offs than you.
  - Kutta 9y ago
    Not wanting to learn a different language is a justifiable preference. Software is full of cost/benefit questions like that. Believing true things also doesn't make you uncharitable.
sseth 9y ago
Ryan Dahl wanted to replicate the nginx "async" model for normal web development. Since javascript was single-threaded, it pretty much forced an asynchronous programming model and many of the libraries were already built that way, so it proved to be a fertile ground for experimentation. In other words, we have node.js and not node.xxx because other languages at that time did not provide a suitable ecosystem for building asynchronous programs. Today most languages have much better async support, or they have features (like goroutines in golang) which achieve the same objective in a different way.
- imtringued 9y ago
  Emphasis on ecosystem. I remember working with netty and other platforms that provided async networking years before nodejs got popular and asnyc became "trendy".
  - osullivj 9y ago
    Doug Schmidt's C++ Reactor and Sam Rushings Python Medusa did async networking 20 years ago. But in the late 90s and early 2000s a lot of J2EE based server code was built in Java that used one blocking thread per client; that was a major wrong turn in mainstream SW design that took a long time to correct, IMHO.

So how do you explain Node.js being so popular?

monocasa 9y ago

Because frontend devs migrated to the backend and didn't want to learn a better language.

eropple 9y ago
And those of us who went to it from those ostensibly "better" languages...? Go on. Say we're "wrong". I could use a chuckle. :)
- tytytytytytytyt 9y ago
  Not wanting to use those better languages is effectively the same in this case. But you mentioned it being wrong first...
  - eropple 9y ago
    Because I'm rather tired of the silly claims. I write Rust. I write Kotlin. I write C++. I write Ruby. And I also write JavaScript. Horses for courses--and the mind-meltingly stupid sneering nonsense should just end. Just...end. I used to smarm about it. I was wrong to. You should stop, because you are wrong now.
    - tytytytytytytyt 9y ago
      > Because I'm rather tired of the silly claims. I write Rust. I write Kotlin. I write C++. I write Ruby. And I also write JavaScript. I never made any such 'claims', but I'm happy for you. I enjoy those things, too... > and the mind-meltingly stupid sneering nonsense should just end. Just...end. I used to smarm about it. I was wrong to. You're the one sneering, smarming, etc. and attempting to create drama. I never said anything about using Node being bad. Maybe you should re-read what I wrote? > You should stop, because you are wrong now. Hey, keep believing that if it makes you feel better.
- pjmlp 9y ago
  What about, we need to pimp up our CVs for HR department drone filters?
always_good 9y ago
Suggesting tha Node is only used by lazy front-end developers does nothing but show how condescending and uncharitable you are towards other people who picked different trade-offs than you.
- Kutta 9y ago
  Not wanting to learn a different language is a justifiable preference. Software is full of cost/benefit questions like that. Believing true things also doesn't make you uncharitable.

sseth 9y ago

Ryan Dahl wanted to replicate the nginx "async" model for normal web development. Since javascript was single-threaded, it pretty much forced an asynchronous programming model and many of the libraries were already built that way, so it proved to be a fertile ground for experimentation. In other words, we have node.js and not node.xxx because other languages at that time did not provide a suitable ecosystem for building asynchronous programs. Today most languages have much better async support, or they have features (like goroutines in golang) which achieve the same objective in a different way.

imtringued 9y ago
Emphasis on ecosystem. I remember working with netty and other platforms that provided async networking years before nodejs got popular and asnyc became "trendy".
- osullivj 9y ago
  Doug Schmidt's C++ Reactor and Sam Rushings Python Medusa did async networking 20 years ago. But in the late 90s and early 2000s a lot of J2EE based server code was built in Java that used one blocking thread per client; that was a major wrong turn in mainstream SW design that took a long time to correct, IMHO.