This might answer your question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAc0vQCC6UQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAc0vQCC6UQ TLDR: He didn't want to use an ecosystem

This might answer your question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAc0vQCC6UQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAc0vQCC6UQ TLDR: He didn't want to use an ecosystem that had existing blocking code. He wanted node to be pure in te sence that nothing was blocking. Starting on a clean slate enabled him to get everything pure non-blocking from the ground up. He admits that Js isn't the best language. But his rationale for not using an existing ecosystem (when it comes to IO) is not bad.