PayPal uses nodeJS

[reparto]

https://www.paypal-engineering.com/2013 ... at-paypal/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Apparently PayPal ported all of their server code to nodeJS last year and they are loving it!!!

nodeJS is still really young but it does seem to be moving towards becoming a replacement for PHP+MySQL

[maboroshi]

NodeJS definitely has some features that make me want to use it. However given that I have been able to utilize Python (and many of it's assorted libraries) as a web language over the years it's hard for me to want to give it up.

Currently I would choose to use python as a server side web language, simply because web2py is so amazing. But I can definitely see the potential of NodeJS.

[visser]

They may be loving it but they would have had to overcome a lot of different changes made to their code. Node is great, dont get me wrong, but like every other programming language it has its place and its time. Right now a big thing that node is used for is front end development of websites. Its pretty crazy to think that the same framework is being used as a package manager, and a server side scripting language. Really at the end of the day thought it points towards a huge shift in the way we are thinking about the web.

This is where things like python have taken such a huge leap forward. Sure Javascript is starting to be the power behind Node and https://angularjs.org/ but python has its equally strong competitors like the aforementioned web2py or awesome shit like http://www.tornadoweb.org/en/stable/.

I would encourage anyone interested in Node to pursue it, as the ideals that it enforces are only becoming stronger and more apparent in the web.

[maboroshi]

This is true and I think Web2py has a way to interface into Tornado. Websockets seem to be the active thing these days

[CommonStray]

replacement for PHP+MySQL

Nope. Node won't replace PHP like tomatoes won't replace apples. They're two very different technologies useful for different purposes. The same was once said about Ruby/Rails replacing PHP as a defacto standard in server-side web development, and the same was once said that Python would do the same. In fact, Python & Ruby are more like PHP in what they are than what Node is.

Node is JavaScript serverside, PHP is a programming language. You can create something like NodeJS with PHP. Don't believe me? Check out ReactPHP. The way both do OOP is very different too. PHP's traditional OOP style is shitloads easier to grasp and manage than JavaScripts imo.

Some people exclaim "WELL WITH NODE WE DO MONGO DB'S REALLY AWESOME AND THATS WHATS BEST TO USE"

That statement is false. Mongo is not anything like MySQL - it isn't just the NoSQL part. Mongo is a document store, MySQL is a relational database - trust me you can do either DB in either node or PHP just as good as one does the other - the DB means nothing except what you choose as a portion of the stack that does your data housing. What you choose should be determined by the nature of data your going to store (have a read http://www.sarahmei.com/blog/2013/11/11 ... e-mongodb/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). Mongo also sucks hideous rhino balls when it comes to Full Text Search (though its getting better). I hear PostgreSQL supports BSOM now and has good FTS.

What it all comes down to is personal preference. A benefit of using Node on the server is that if your front-end code is heavily written in JS you're not switching between two different languages when going back to the server (e.g. JS on the server, JS on the client) - this also largely assists in data handling, if I send a JavaScript object to the server from the front end, using JS on the server I'll likely have to deal with less haggling over how that data structure is going to be processed. Though if you're proficient in both that part doesn't really matter.