MicroCommunity: Node.js vs RoR

[Amjad]

I've been playing with Node.js for a while, and it really rocks! I think we should consider writing microcommunity using Node.

I'm trying to give it a shot, let's see if it takes me over:
https://github.com/isstaif/microcommunity/

This is going to be experimental, so I've pushed it to my repos. I'll report my findings after I feel sure about them.

However, even if we switched back to Rails, we will only use Rails as an API, and the rest of our app will be a client-side app using Backbone. We will also need to use Node anyway to manage pushing and real-time notification (and probably a lot of real-time collaboration stuff in the future inshalla), so trying to rewrite our App in Node really worth it.

Don't forget to check this out:
http://wikitechie.net/wiki/Backbone.js

Best regards,

Amjad

[Muhammad Al-Syrwan]

I always wanted to write it in Node.js, but i'm afraid that our unsteady strategy doesn't fit with other programmers in the team.

In the end, i agree with you my friend, let's move to node :)

[Amjad]

You are right my friend. However our experience with Rails was very good, and we were able to prototype a software and get very good feedback.

We were also able to understand all the difficulties facing Rails so we are entering the world of Node with a good background.

And the most important thing, is that we were also able to make the idea of MicroCommunity more concrete and clear.

For all the reasons above I don't regret the time we spent with Rails :), inshallah we are going to head faster towards our goal this time.

[Muhammad Al-Syrwan]

until now Backbone.io is the best to use

https://github.com/scttnlsn/backbone.io

[Amjad]

Will check it, thanks dude :)

[Muhammad Al-Syrwan]

this also could be interesting 
https://github.com/tblobaum/nodeQuery

[Amjad]

Cool!

[Muhammad Al-Syrwan]

I think we don't need a router 

search engines understand such URLs "https://twitter.com/#!/MhdSyrwan"

[Amjad]

Contratulations, the default microcommunity repo is ni Node.js.
https://github.com/wikitechie/MicroCommunity

[Amjad]

I've started to be productive writing Node.js and it is really cool. I'm now sure that we no longer need Rails, and it is safe to use Node.js in production.

[Amjad]

BTW, We've finished a lot of what we have written in Rails. I'm going to share a screenshots soon :)

[Muhammad Al-Syrwan]

Great :)

i cloned it then called "npm install " 

when i run "node app.js", it gives me the following error :

HTTPServer.prototype.expose =

          ^

TypeError: Cannot read property 'prototype' of undefined

    at Object.<anonymous> (/home/mhdsyrwan/rails_projects/microcommunity/node_modules/express-expose/lib/express-expose.js:51:11)

    at Module._compile (module.js:446:26)

    at Object..js (module.js:464:10)

    at Module.load (module.js:353:31)

    at Function._load (module.js:311:12)

    at Module.require (module.js:359:17)

    at require (module.js:375:17)

    at Object.<anonymous> (/home/mhdsyrwan/rails_projects/microcommunity/node_modules/express-expose/index.js:2:18)

    at Module._compile (module.js:446:26)

    at Object..js (module.js:464:10)

Is there any thing i've missed about preparing the project ?

[Amjad]

No it is a problem of me.

Remove the line:
require('express-expose')

[Amjad]

The problem was that this module is only compatable with pre Express 3.0

I forked it and made it compatable but they haven't accepted my pull request yet. However, I made the code run with no dependency on this module.

[Muhammad Al-Syrwan]

now it works, but no response :(

[Muhammad Al-Syrwan]

No data received

Unable to load the webpage because the server sent no data.

[Amjad]

Are you sure? Can you check the version of both Node and Express you are using?

[Muhammad Al-Syrwan]

i think npm is responsible for checking versions .. isn't it ?

[Amjad]

That's right for express, but not for node.

[Muhammad Al-Syrwan]

node v0.6.18

[Amjad]

I'm using v.6.14

[Amjad]

I don't think it is because of the version I'll check it out..

[Amjad]

I think it is a networking problem that has nothing to do with Node
https://www.google.com/search?q=Unable+to+load+the+webpage+because+the+server+sent+no+data.&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

[Amjad]

I got it.

You need to run your mongoDB server

$ mongod

[Muhammad Al-Syrwan]

Nice :)

Now my new error is :D

/home/mhdsyrwan/rails_projects/microcommunity/node_modules/mongoose/lib/utils.js:413

        throw err;

              ^

TypeError: Cannot read property 'name' of undefined

    at Promise.<anonymous> (/home/mhdsyrwan/rails_projects/microcommunity/app.js:64:23)

    at Promise.<anonymous> (/home/mhdsyrwan/rails_projects/microcommunity/node_modules/mongoose/lib/promise.js:120:8)

    at Promise.<anonymous> (events.js:67:17)

    at Promise.emit (/home/mhdsyrwan/rails_projects/microcommunity/node_modules/mongoose/lib/promise.js:59:38)

    at Promise.complete (/home/mhdsyrwan/rails_projects/microcommunity/node_modules/mongoose/lib/promise.js:70:20)

    at cb (/home/mhdsyrwan/rails_projects/microcommunity/node_modules/mongoose/lib/query.js:918:32)

    at /home/mhdsyrwan/rails_projects/microcommunity/node_modules/mongoose/lib/utils.js:408:16

    at /home/mhdsyrwan/rails_projects/microcommunity/node_modules/mongoose/node_modules/mongodb/lib/mongodb/cursor.js:133:9

    at /home/mhdsyrwan/rails_projects/microcommunity/node_modules/mongoose/node_modules/mongodb/lib/mongodb/cursor.js:173:11

    at /home/mhdsyrwan/rails_projects/microcommunity/node_modules/mongoose/node_modules/mongodb/lib/mongodb/cursor.js:467:35

I think the problem is that the database is empty ... 

Is there any think like rake db:migrate ?

[Amjad]

Yes you are right.

This is NoSQL, the problem is that there is no data, not that there is no schema :)

BTW, You don't event have to create a database, it will create one for you on the fly :)

Try to create a post manually by this line:

post.save(function (err) {
  if (!err) console.log('Success!');
});

on line 27 of app.js

Test that this worked by visiting /api/posts

[Muhammad Al-Syrwan]

it worked :)

[Muhammad Al-Syrwan]

it looks great :)

[Muhammad Al-Syrwan]

we have the same old problem, all the people have your pictures 

i am a guest, i can post as a guest, but your profile picture appears instead of nothing 

[Amjad]

I know, don't worry, we haven't finished the server-side yet.

I also have a great new layout that will the make MicroCommunity groups really really cool.

Inshalla I'll try to release them as soon as I can....

[Muhammad Al-Syrwan]

i have 2 questions

• what is the meaning of variable "_" 
• what is the meaning of the @ sign in your coffescript code

[Muhammad Al-Syrwan]

i know that @property is equivalent to this.property, but when the "@" sign is alone , is it meant to be this ?!

as an example you can see this

_.bindAll @

[Amjad]

"_" is underscore.js utility library used by backbone

As for your other question you might be interested in having a look at this small tutorial. It will help you get familiar with backbone and coffee
http://adamjspooner.github.com/coffeescript-meet-backbonejs/

[Muhammad Al-Syrwan]

Nice Tutorial :)

[Walid A.H]

Mhd Syrwan said that there are difficulties.. So what the difficulties of learning Node.js ? and what the features that make you switch to it instead of rails ?!!

[Muhammad Al-Syrwan]

Hi Walid :)

for you, there is no difficulties :D

i'm afraid that changing technologies repeatedly makes some people feel disappointed .

[Walid A.H]

:D