Skip to main content

Node.js and client app are the future of webdeving?

Recently we had to try a new technology. As expected, we did hit edge case quickly. After analyzing thoroughly, we had to ditch part of the stack.

But, I had developed much interest over Node.js, Redis, WebSocket and client app technologies lately and I hope that they'll take the lead.

Some frequently asked questions about these technologies:

What is Node.js?
It is set of JavaScript libraries around Google’s V8 JavaScript engine, written by Ryan Dahl in 2009.

Why Node.js is picking up?
With Node.js, it’s easy to write web server in pure JavaScript. We can totally eliminate another language interpreter layer by programming the web server to handle the request directly (For example, in LAMP, PHP is required to handle the requests. But, in Node.js based server, no such layer is required).

Is Node.js a right choice?
It depends. Though few developers may find it easy to adopt, others may find it difficult to write quality code in event-driven asynchronous style. When there are lots of modules in a project, it is better to stay with Rails-like framework.

What is Redis?
Redis is key-value (think about array('key'=> 'value')) based in-memory database.

Why Redis is picking up?
With Redis, the data access time will be greatly improved.

Is Redis a right choice?
For me, Redis is an ideal choice for medium-to-high data store and where complex reports are not required; in those cases, it’s better to use it around any RDBMS like MySQL.

What is client app technology?
The "views/templates" are available in client-side (obviously transferred from server once) and the data are transferred in JSON format from server. With this, it may be enough to setup REST service in server-end; but the client-side code may get trickier. This approach is already used in Gmail and Twitter. With Backbone.js, Knockout.js and similar frameworks, it's somewhat easy to write client apps.

Why client app technology is picking up?
Few modules--like digg, delicious, etc are the latest trend in web. So, it would be right choice for fast responsive web pages.

Is client app a right technology?
If there are too many modules and SEO is of big concern, it’s better to stay with Rails-like framework. But, note that LinkedIn has mentioned that SEO is possible with dust.js, the library that they have chosen for their client app technology migration. Some developers may find it difficult and would end up writing sloppy codes. When more browsers compatibilities are required, it may not be the right fit.

What is WebSocket?
It is the push technology through we can instantly push changed data to client.

Is WebSocket a right choice?
It depends. When the data changes are to be propagated to all clients, it will be ideal choice. We may use Socket.Io library for the browser compatibility. It is also a good fit with Node.js

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Problems with CakePHP - follow-up

Some people have responded including the Datepicker fame Marc Grabanski . So, this follow-up... First of all, I was not ranting nor complaining; I've just blogged/documented my experience. The common problem most of the people pointed out are that it scales for addons.mozilla.com. Those who have accessed their source code can understand that they've done lot of things and also the site is not database-intensive. You should really create a real database-intensive website to understand what I mean. The other point that been pointed out is about open source and community. Lot of people may not be knowing that it's 2 people pushing it and don't want others to be credited . The generic model or dynamic model idea was originally been from grigri and Marcel . It's hard to be called as open source as only few and sycophants are driving it's direction (I'm not talking about svn access) So, here are my humble checklist before you start shouting at me Did you read a

BehaviorS.js - An alternative to Behaviour.js, event:Selectors and Low Pro libs for unobtrusive JavaScript programming

BehaviorS.js yet another unobtrusive JavaScript library similar to Behaviour.js and event:Selectors but in implementation uses hash based lookup without extending elements; so presumably it should be faster than the rest. The original script and idea was by JLof ; I extended it for DOMContentLoaded support, optimized a bit to avoid scanning of more depths, and added new rules support. I wanted to document the plug a long time and just got time to do it. For the time being BehaviorS.js is available here Update (2006-09-11) : Coralized the link to BehaviorS.js so as to save the load on free brinkster.com webpage Update (2006-09-27) : If the coralized link to BehaviorS.js doesn't work, use http://www21.brinkster.com/guideme/BehaviorS/

Open source PHP frameworks and problems

I was using CakePHP for sometime and proposed CakePlus , another UIMS toolkit on the top of CakePHP but also altering some problematic core of it. The thread should explain the outcome of the post. And, then I noted Akelos framework has most of the things built in. Issues with frameworks esp. CakePHP Scalability not a priority - Developers aren't aware that we can't throw more and more hardware Excessive use of regular expressions Evangelist isn't aware that the framework throws many queries unnecessarily More memory consumption - 100M would never be enough for a simple project Poor coding standards and practices - Prolong use of extract() often leads to more memory consumption Can't use the native approaches or baked codes. The override approach always lead to hard to debug codes Poor architected codes and no clear defined approaches. People belong to the cult drives the direction and often throws unprofiled codes. No native provision to share codes between M-V-C and