Node.js cures cancer
blog.brianbeck.com
Node.js cures cancer
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Re: Node.js cures cancer
#2It should be noted that, with PyPy, the Python example executes in 3.924s.
Re: Node.js cures cancer
#3While node is doing the calculation, it won't be doing anything else (like serving the next request). If a more traditional server is doing the calculation, it will spin up another process to handle the next request.
If all you do is calculating Fibonacci, you can get ~(amount of CPUs) times the performance. You could use multinode for the same effect, but this is additional work.
In the end, it's a matter of the type of service you are doing. If it's a Fibonacci generator, you'd use something that's better suited than either node/JS or any other scripting language.
If you are doing something that's I/O heavy (which is probably the majority of today's web applications), node or other scripting languages might be better suited because they are easier to work with for most of us.
It's just tools. Not religion. I wouldn't use a hammer to remove a screw. And I definitely wouldn't write hateful articles (I'm referring to the original one) because somebody was using a screwdriver instead of a hammer to remove the screw.
Re: Node.js cures cancer
#4While node is doing the calculation, it won't be doing anything else (like serving the next request). If a more traditional server is doing the calculation, it will spin up another process to handle the next request. If all you do is calculating Fibonacci, you can get ~(amount of CPUs) times the performance. You could use multinode for the same effect, but this is additional work. In the end, it's a matter of the typ…
It's a troll article, but I'd like to point out that the "UNIX way" is alive and well in node.js. I spawn new processes to do heavy lifting (e.g. thumbnailing, hashing files) all the time. I put jobs into queues in redis and handle them in other node processes. Obviously in co-operative multitasking it's wrong to block the rest of the server.
Re: Node.js cures cancer
#5I like how every rebuttal turns into "how fast can you compute a fibonacci number". I was looking for a function that burned a nontrivial amount of CPU, the choice of fibonacci was arbitrary. Let's move on from that.
What I was showing was that if your request handler does a nontrivial amount of CPU work, it will hold up the event loop and kill any "scalability" you think you're getting from Node.
If you Node guys were really that irritated by this, you're going to be super pissed when you learn how computers work.
I ain't even mad.
Re: Node.js cures cancer
#6As a cancer survivor, just wanted to let you know that the poor taste exhibited here is pretty sad. When you want to make your point next time, use a title that doesn't include something that kills people. Thank you.
Re: Node.js cures cancer
#7I like how every rebuttal turns into "how fast can you compute a fibonacci number". I was looking for a function that burned a nontrivial amount of CPU, the choice of fibonacci was arbitrary. Let's move on from that. What I was showing was that if your request handler does a nontrivial amount of CPU work, it will hold up the event loop and kill any "scalability" you think you're getting from Node. If you Node guys we…
If your using node and doing work other than serving simple pages, then your probably sending that work off. Most production serious Node-ers know not to do heavy lifting within the system. I really don't know where anyone from the Node community has ever recommended stuffing their single threaded V8 backed event processor with cpu heavy tasks.
I still don't know why people are so maximist with their tools. NodeJS is a tool. It works well with your _other_ tools.
There - is - no - perfect - tool, no perfect programmer, not even perfect intent.
Re: Node.js cures cancer
#8I like how every rebuttal turns into "how fast can you compute a fibonacci number". I was looking for a function that burned a nontrivial amount of CPU, the choice of fibonacci was arbitrary. Let's move on from that. What I was showing was that if your request handler does a nontrivial amount of CPU work, it will hold up the event loop and kill any "scalability" you think you're getting from Node. If you Node guys we…
But Ted, do you not understand that people use node.js because its a familiar language and a (relatively) fast runtime?
Nobody has been using for computing fib though. Nobody has been putting in things that burn non-trivial amounts of CPU though.
Its all about this: http://jlouisramblings.blogspot.com/2011/10/one-major-differ...
Re: Node.js cures cancer
#9I like how every rebuttal turns into "how fast can you compute a fibonacci number". I was looking for a function that burned a nontrivial amount of CPU, the choice of fibonacci was arbitrary. Let's move on from that. What I was showing was that if your request handler does a nontrivial amount of CPU work, it will hold up the event loop and kill any "scalability" you think you're getting from Node. If you Node guys we…
I would argue that heavily CPU-bound stuff shouldn't be run in a web app. It's much better to offload the task to a worker system via redis/zeromq/kestrel/etc. The majority of activity you see in every web app I've ever designed has been almost exclusively I/O bound.
Re: Node.js cures cancer
#10It's not the main point of the article, but I just thought I'd point out that node already does have a WSGI/Rack-style library for folks who like that kind of thing. It's called Strata (http://stratajs.org). Disclaimer: I'm the author.