Greetings folks,
I'm scheduled to give a talk introducing and demonstration of node.js
(
http://nodejs.org/), on Tuesday, April 26th, 2011 at 18:30 at the
Shopify offices in the Byward Market (see the site
http://ottawaruby.ca/
for details on location).
Node.js is a Free Software project that takes the performant V8
JavaScript runtime from Google, and builds a system programming
environment around it reminiscent of the Ruby or Python runtimes. A
particularly important concept is the promotion of a main event queue
to a first-class language facility, as it is when JavaScript lives in
its original home, the web browser. They add a core library (CommonJS-
derived), library loading facilities, with various bits of community
contrib available such as a package manager (not unlike gems) and a
pile of libraries and projects. It's proving quite useful for writing
event-driven network applications in a dynamic language, and in
particular includes an excellent HTTP library making it more possible
for web developers to innovate directly on top of the HTTP protocol.
The JavaScript language itself has only lately garnered recognition as
a capable language suitable for Real Work only within the last few
years, with the emergence of community lore (far beyond that of the
uninspired copypasta of old), patterns, and actual projects making it
an increasingly viable option.
JavaScript has been of particular interest to Rubyists for a while,
due in part to its similar capabilities with late binding and lexical
scoping (closures), and increasingly obvious relevance in the world of
web development.
This talk will include a quick introduction to the JS language and its
history, and an introduction to the node.js environment itself
(installation, invocation, and the core libraries).
Hope to see you there!
--
Regards,
Andrew Clunis
http://www.orospakr.ca/
https://github.com/orospakr