What Is Node.js?
History
- Official name is "Node". Unofficial name is "Node.js"
- Written by Ryan Dahl in 2009
- Dahl is employed by Joyent, Node's main sponsor (http://github.com/joyent/node)
What is it?
- server-side JavaScript environment
- runs on top of Google's V8 JavaScript engine (engine in Chrome)
- event-driven I/O - not just web servers, but also things like sockets
Why is it useful?
- it's javascript!
- on the server!
- less resource requirement on the server - does not spawn a new thread for every request. Instead, it allocates resources as needed.
- does not directly block for I/O calls
Who's using it?
- Yammer
- Github
- 37Signals
- Palm/HP (webOs)
- Rdio
- https://github.com/joyent/node/wiki/Projects,-Applications,-and-Companies-Using-Node
