Why node.js disappoints me
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Why node.js disappoints me
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Re: Why node.js disappoints me
#2The underlying problem is the kool aid drinking, not node.js
Re: Why node.js disappoints me
#3I am of the opinion that there is no longer a need for server side templating languages and that they only serve to complicate the technology stack. With REST services, Javascript, CSS and HTML the technology stack for web development has become significantly simplified due to the fact that it is once again digestible. A designer can know HTML and CSS and provide designer services without having to know the intricacies of a back end technology (many times several) further they can graduate into JavaScript UI programming as they grow and gain experience. Finally they can grow into developing back end services. With modern web development the layers have become compartmentalized or black boxed to shield each layer from the implementation details of the others. This is a good thing because a new developer does not have to master "technology soup" to become the lowest level of proficient. With current trends in web development, server side UI frameworks make no sense. The take a longer development cycle and they produce inferior results.
Re: Why node.js disappoints me
#4The underlying problem is the kool aid drinking, not node.js
I'd say the problem is people expecting that any new technology is revolutionary.
Re: Why node.js disappoints me
#5The underlying problem is the kool aid drinking, not node.js
I'd say the problem is people expecting that any new technology is revolutionary.
Or expecting that new things will work with everything immediately, and be perfect.
His main gripe here is that the server's javascript and the browsers' javascript isn't 100% the same, and that current libraries don't run on both.
Jeez, give it some time. Or better yet, work on it.
Re: Why node.js disappoints me
#6I am of the opinion that there is no longer a need for server side templating languages and that they only serve to complicate the technology stack. With REST services, Javascript, CSS and HTML the technology stack for web development has become significantly simplified due to the fact that it is once again digestible. A designer can know HTML and CSS and provide designer services without having to know the intricaci…
I think a lot more people will start considering this possibility seriously the day Google announces it parses Javascript.
Re: Why node.js disappoints me
#7It sounds like the problem he's having isn't with Node, but with the libraries people have built on top of node.
He's arguing that somehow using libraries makes it a "different language" than the one you'd use in the browser.
Re: Why node.js disappoints me
#8The underlying problem is the kool aid drinking, not node.js
I'd say the problem is people expecting that any new technology is revolutionary.
I think the underlying problem is programmers who aren't very good at programming. That means they're constantly on the look out for some magic potion that will make it easier for them.
Of course some things do make it easier - frameworks, libraries etc. But they often only make it easier at the start before your project gets complex and needs custom out of the box things.
Programmers should just knuckle down and try to improve their skills rather than chasing the latest fads.
Re: Why node.js disappoints me
#9It sounds like the problem he's having isn't with Node, but with the libraries people have built on top of node. He's arguing that somehow using libraries makes it a "different language" than the one you'd use in the browser.
Well some of the libraries out there are glue for C++ code. I think that is what he was inferring anyways.
Re: Why node.js disappoints me
#10I am of the opinion that there is no longer a need for server side templating languages and that they only serve to complicate the technology stack. With REST services, Javascript, CSS and HTML the technology stack for web development has become significantly simplified due to the fact that it is once again digestible. A designer can know HTML and CSS and provide designer services without having to know the intricaci…
agreed. My first bigger node project (http://tempalias.com) works without generating even a single byte of HTML dynamically on the server.
It's all plain HTML and JavaScript statically served and talking to the server via a REST API.
This way I don't have to "bolt on" an API that might be incomplete. Instead, the frontend uses exactly the same API as any prospective client would.
When I started the thing, I was using the Express framework, but soon began to feel exactly like the original poster. Express was porting Rails to Node and I wanted something else.
Hence I moved to paperboy to serve the static files and did the (simple!) API on my own - plugging paperboy into an existing node server with existing endpoints is incredibly easy (or I could serve the static files directly, but I wanted the code to work without external dependencies to help the community to get a service of their own to run).
If you are interested in the development (tempalias is MIT licensed and available at github), I would recommend you either the development journal (http://www.gnegg.ch/tag/tempalias) or the talk I gave at jsconf.eu (http://bit.ly/b4gsrL)