Tag: Node.js

Apr 10

An Excellent Collection of Node.js Links

Nodejs logoWant to learn more about Node.js, a topic I’ve frequently written about here? If so, a friend recently pointed me to an excellent collection of Node.js-related links compiled by Stanislav Stoyanov:

My Node.js Linksheet

(UPDATE 5 Mar 2013: It seems that the site may unfortunately no longer be available. In a quick search online I was unable to find any alternative sites hosting the document.)

It’s a great collection of companies, tools, games, platforms, frameworks and more all associated with Node.js. While Joyent also maintains a list of Node.js resources, this list from Stanislav Stoyanov contains many excellent pointers for those looking to learn more and get started with Node.js.

Great work!

Jan 30

Node.js Project Leader Ryan Dahl Steps Down To Work On Research Projects

Node dot js logoCiting a desire to work on research projects after three years of focused work, Node.js creator and project leader Ryan Dahl sent out a message today that he will be “ceding
my position as gatekeeper to Isaac Schlueter”. He stated:

I am still an employee at Joyent and will advise from the sidelines but I won’t be involved in the day-to-day bug fixes. Isaac has final say over what makes it into the releases. Appeals for new features, changes, and bug fixes should now be directed at him.

I’ve been a huge fan of Node.js and if you look at the tag cloud in the right sidebar you’ll see that “Node.js” stands out with the largest lettering and denoting the most posts written here. My post on “Node.js, Doctor’s Offices and Fast Food Restaurants – Understanding Event-driven Programming” remains one of the most visited posts on this blog. And I continue to routinely find new and interesting ways to work with node.js. I also learned a great bit from the various videos of Ryan’s presentations (such as this presentation).

Kudos to Ryan for creating Node.js and then taking it as far as he has. I can completely understand how after three years of rather intense work he wants and needs to pursue a different path. His departure is also a huge statement about the power of the Node.js community – and also of Joyent as a sponsor and employer of so many key Node.js developers – to continue the development of the language without the creator at the helm.

As just a random developer out there using Node.js, I certainly thank Ryan for all he’s done and wish him all the best in his new role!

UPDATE: Jolie O’Dell over at VentureBeat also has a nice post out about Ryan Dahl’s stepping down.

Aug 12

Node.js Knockout Contest Coming Up August 27 – Will You Compete?

NodejsknockoutDo you know Node.js? If so, have you thought about joining the Node.js Knockout contest starting on August 27th?

It’s basically a 48-hour contest to see which team can create the most awesome Node.js application, as decided by a panel of judges. The contest rules explain all the details and as I write this post there are 321 teams entered in this year’s event. Teams can be virtual – and some are gathering in various locations around the world to hack in the same physical place. There is apparently still room to sign up, although it’s closing soon (8/20).

While I’m not personally joining this year, I’m looking forward to seeing what these teams come up with. It should be fun to see!

P.S. In full disclosure, I should note that Tropo.com, one of the services of my employer, Voxeo, is one of the sponsors of the Node.js Knockout.

Jun 17

Calipso – A Content Management System (CMS) Written in Node.js

Calipsologo

As a writer of online content, I’m always looking at what is new in the world of content management systems (CMSs), and I was intrigued to see that there is a new CMS out based on Node.js called Calipso (and with the brilliantly simple url calip.so). Here’s the description:

Calipso is a content management system (CMS), based on the NodeJS server.

Due to the asynchronous nature of NodeJS, it seemed like a good idea to try to build a CMS made up of modules that could execute asynchronously in a non-blocking way.

This is the start of that journey, we are in the early days, so be patient, but feedback is always appreciated!

The site itself is of course built using Calipso and demonstrates some of the capabilities. Alex Young over at the DailyJS JavaScript blog also wrote a detailed code review of Calipso that gives a good sense of its capabilities. The code itself can naturally be found on Github for those wanting to dive into the source code itself.

While right now I will stick with WordPress as my CMS for this site (primarily because I barely have enough time to write, let alone work on the backend of the site), it’s good to see someone working on a Node.js-driven CMS and I’ll definitely keep watching its evolution. Cool to see!

May 20

My Github repo of SMSified experiments

Smsified 1Earlier in the week I mentioned a quick python app I wrote to send SMS messages using SMSified. I’m storing that code and some other experiments up in a Github repo at:

https://github.com/danyork/smsified-experiments/

If you are a Github user and also interested in building SMS apps, please feel free to “watch” that repo and follow along with my own experiments. Code will probably be a mixture of python and Node.js, with occasional other languages thrown in.

Apr 20

Use Node.js to Build Your Own SMS or IM Interface to Twitter

NodejslogoWould you like to create your own SMS interface to Twitter? To be able to post your own tweets via SMS? Or would you like to have an IM interface to Twitter using Jabber, GoogleTalk, AIM, MSN, Yahoo, etc?

And would you like to do all this using Node.js?

Sure, Twitter already offers its own SMS interface… but hey, why not build your own to play with Node.js?

That’s exactly what my colleague Justin Dupree did and then wrote up in this great blog post:

Building a Twitter SMS/IM Service with Tropo & Node.js

I love it! I mean… combine 3 of my favorite passions: Twitter, Tropo and Node.js… mix them together, shake them a bit and out pops a very cool mashup that lets you have your own interface to Twitter using SMS or IM.

Kudos to Justin for the great way he walked through the code in the post… and also made the full Tropo-Node-Twitter code available on Github. I’m looking forward to playing with it more and seeing what else I can do with it…

P.S. I’m naturally found on Twitter at twitter.com/danyork.

Mar 31

Great Resource -> Felix’s Node.js Guide

FelixnodejsguideWant to learn more about Node.js? Felix Geisendörfer recently rolled out a site with a series of guides to help people get started:

http://nodeguide.com/

So far he has these guides available:

  • Node.js Beginner Guide
  • Node.js Style Guide
  • Node.js Community Guide
  • Node.js Convincing The Boss Guide

and promises more to come. He is nicely using a Github repo for the development of the guides and you can monitor that repo to see what is in development.

Documentation and training are always critical elements of helping people get started with a new language, so it’s great to see initiatives like this one. I’m definitely watching the Github repo and have been reading through his guides already.

Thanks, Felix, for putting these docs online!

Mar 24

A Sign of the Node.js Buzz – Joyent Launches a Node.js Jobs Site

Node.js certainly has been getting a good bit of buzz these days. I’ve been writing about Node.js here because I personally find it interesting, but you only have to watch the Twitter search string to know that a lot of other people out there find the same fascination with Node.js.

It’s a sign of that intense interest, then, that Joyent launched a “Node.js Jobs” site this week at:

http://jobs.nodejs.org/a/jobs/find-jobs

with some initial postings from some of the startups that you might expect to be using a bleeding edge service like Node.js:

NodejsJobs

Very cool to see… and may it only help grow the pool of Node.js developers out there!

Mar 22

Video: Intro to Node.js by Ryan Dahl at SF PHP Meetup on Feb 22, 2011

Here’s a great video introduction to Node.js by creator Ryan Dahl at the San Francisco PHP Meetup Group on February 22, 2011. He steps people through building apps in a great style:

Mar 12

Mashable: Why Everyone Is Talking About Node.js

NodejsIf you are wondering why so much attention is focused on Node.js these days in the online media and sites (including my own writing about Node.js), Mashable had a decent post this week called:

Why Everyone Is Talking About Node

It’s a good overview that explains much about why Node.js is so interesting to so many people. I’m not sure I agree with the author about the Ruby community being “exclusive and harsh”. I experienced nothing but helpful assistance back when I was learning Ruby. The Node.js community, though, has definitely been very welcoming to newcomers so far.

Regardless of that probably unnecessary dig, the overall article was a good overview of Node and is certainly worth a read.