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Ask HN: What is Node.js? Framework, VM, stdlib or a platform?

8 points by fka 12y ago

What is the place of Node.js on a standart stack? It's like VM but, V8 is like. It's framework-like, but not. JavaScript is the language, V8 is the interpreter and the VM-ish... I'm completely confused. Can someone help me to figure it out?

chm 12y ago
Hmmm... Try these tidbits: NodeJS is a JS interpreter. You can run Node and execute JS code inside it. Node is written in C/C++, like V8, and so it can be compiled for a lot of architectures. You can therefore run JS code "natively" on a machine. Node is single-threaded, event-driven, and can do IO. It's not a framework. It has a set of standard features (just like Python has a standard library) like an HTTP server for example. Frameworks for Node are written in JS and use the standard library to facilitate development of complex apps. Express is a popular Node framework to write web servers. Need more? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NodeJS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NodeJS http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/07/what-is-node.html http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/07/what-is-node.html http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1884724/what-is-node-js http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1884724/what-is-node-js http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/what-is-node-js-and-why-should-i-care-web-development/ http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/what-is-node-js-and-why-should-...
- fka 12y ago
  Is NodeJS "like V8" or "on V8"?
  - hasancc 12y ago
    neither. It just uses v8 to execute the interpreter output which is still javascript code. V8 converts javascript to machine code, and node.js basically acts as a middle man to add functionality to javascript like "event driven programming" which can't be implemented through a basic framework.
    - fka 12y ago
      Are you sure? v8 itself is already event-driven. If not, Chrome wouldn't work event-driven.
      - hasancc 12y ago
        Yes Chrome is event driven, but Chrome is a sandbox which limits your I/O capabilities. Node.js on the other hand, is obviusly not a browser, so you can actually do I/Os with the system not only the sandbox.
sdogruyol 12y ago
Actually Node is a well packaged platform-like runtime built mainly upon these : V8, libeio, libuv and others ( DNS, OpenSSL e.g ) What makes it unique is that you use Node Standart Library with Javascript to harness the power of those.
ankurdhama 12y ago
A tool to build software systems.
CmonDev 12y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactor_pattern#JavaScript http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactor_pattern#JavaScript It's an implementation of the Reactor pattern basically. Sits somewhere between an inflated library and a higher-level framework (since there are packages).
ilaksh 12y ago
JavaScript is generally NOT interpreted anymore. For the majority of runtime it is running as native code. Node.js is a platform. If you are that confused then you will need to spend a few weeks using it to understand it.
cabbeer 12y ago
Here is a seminar from the edx cs50 series on node: https://manual.cs50.net/seminars/#_node_js https://manual.cs50.net/seminars/#_node_js There's also a bunch of other really good ones