The rise of Node.js: JavaScript graduates to the server

Microsoft and others have already adopted this technology to extend JavaScript beyond the browser -- but it has limits developers must beware

Although it is just three years old, Node.js is gaining traction as an application development platform, letting developers extend JavaScript beyond the browser and into servers. But questions remain about JavaScript's appropriateness on servers and developers' readiness to use it.

Invented by Joyent developer Ryan Dahl, Node.js -- or simply Node -- is getting endorsements from established companies such as Microsoft and Yahoo, as well as from smaller ventures. Geared to network application development, the platform is built on the Google Chrome V8 JavaScript engine and features an event-driven, nonblocking I/O model that advocates say make it ideal for data-intensive, real-time applications running across distributed devices.

[ Read InfoWorld's interview with Node.js creator Ryan Dahl, where he discusses the basics of Node.js. | Subscribe to InfoWorld's Developer World newsletter for the latest news and insights on software development. ]

Dahl even sees Node.js displacing Java on servers. "Java got very complicated, and what was really nice about JavaScript two years ago was that it was this very simple language," Dahl says. "It had strings, and it had numbers and functions, but there really wasn't all that [much] else to it." But JavaScript did have capabilities such as closures and anonymous functions, Dahl noted: "That kind of set the stage to introduce a new server paradigm that focuses on nonblocking I/0."

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Although it is just three years old, Node.js is gaining traction as an application development platform, letting developers extend JavaScript beyond the browser and into servers. But questions remain about JavaScript's appropriateness on servers and developers' readiness to use it.

Invented by Joyent developer Ryan Dahl, Node.js -- or simply Node -- is getting endorsements from established companies such as Microsoft and Yahoo, as well as from smaller ventures. Geared to network application development, the platform is built on the Google Chrome V8 JavaScript engine and features an event-driven, nonblocking I/O model that advocates say make it ideal for data-intensive, real-time applications running across distributed devices.

[ Read InfoWorld's interview with Node.js creator Ryan Dahl, where he discusses the basics of Node.js. | Subscribe to InfoWorld's Developer World newsletter for the latest news and insights on software development. ]

Dahl even sees Node.js displacing Java on servers. "Java got very complicated, and what was really nice about JavaScript two years ago was that it was this very simple language," Dahl says. "It had strings, and it had numbers and functions, but there really wasn't all that [much] else to it." But JavaScript did have capabilities such as closures and anonymous functions, Dahl noted: "That kind of set the stage to introduce a new server paradigm that focuses on nonblocking I/0."

JavaScript founder Brendan Eich, CTO at Mozilla, is not surprised that JavaScript has been extended beyond the browser and into servers. "I expected it because Netscape actually wanted to do that," Eich says. Developers "like a full-stack, end-to-end, one-language development model."

Big-time support for Node.js Microsoft is backing Node.js as a development language on the company's Windows Azure cloud platform. The company offers its Windows Azure SDK for Node.js. "Over the next couple of weeks, you're going to see basically us round out all of the features of Azure to have integrated Node.js libraries," says Microsoft vice president Scott Guthrie.

Mozilla is using Node.js in its identity project, for single sign-on for the Web. Because JavaScript is already the language of the browser, it makes sense that the programs that browser applications connect to are also written in JavaScript, says Mark Mayo, a principal engineer at Mozilla.

In November, Yahoo introduced its Cocktails technology for Web developers, featuring Node.js, JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS. Initial deliverables include Mojito, an environment-agnostic Web application framework for the client and server, and Manhattan, a hosted platform for Mojito applications. "The way we leverage Node.js in Manhattan is by having Node.js be the execution core of Manhattan," says Renaud Waldura, a senior product manager at Yahoo. Manhattan adds several high-end services not available in Node.js itself, such as security and isolation, he says.

Node.js also is catching on at lesser-known companies such as GroupDock, which provides a business application platform for HTML5 applications that can work on computers and mobile devices.