Interactive homepage (Canvas + node.js + socket.io) | Hacker News Reader

Interactive homepage (Canvas + node.js + socket.io)

indutny.com

64 pointsindutny22 comments

For those asking this is the personal page of Fedor Indutny, node.js core contributor and one of the makers at nodejitsu.

You can check the code for the app at - https://github.com/indutny/home.

If you feel like giving node a try this page will get you a nodejitsu invite: - http://gimmesomebeta.jit.su

I'm considering using node.js + expresso + couchdb. What worries me is the CPU overhead on the servers for using javascript. How much CPU is needed to run such an app or a service like Trello which I heard is (was?) using node.js. The scalability is a Maserati problem.

It would just like to know how steep is the curve of the required power relative to the number of users for a small messaging app with one database per user (a.k.a. zimbra) ?

For the people who haven't figured out how this works: you can move a little stick-figure around and type; the text will appear above the little figure's head.

The other figures are moved by other people visiting the site, who can also type stuff. So you have a chat system.

(Is it just me, or does everybody seeing node.js for the first time want to make a chat system of some sort? It's the first thing I did, although mine wasn't nearly as cool as this one. :p)

I love how on a Show HN or similar there's always someone trying to inject a javascript alert.

Or making the caracter float above others by fiddling with the console <3

Looks good, but this page bumped my CPU usage to 100% on Firefox 10.0. Anyone else?

A nice example of how easy it is to get things wrong in JS: http://bayimg.com/JampiAAdJ

I've been playing a lot with canvas recently and building libraries to abstract away all the low-level stuff and just deal directly with the entities you actually care about working with. Exciting stuff. Cool to see what other people are doing with it.

Seeing Chrome's resources, some magic happens at

ws://indutny.com/socket.io/1/websocket/1315565259493660447

What does ws protocol do exactly? I can read something on wikipedia, but it is more confusing than clarifying

I've been thinking of using node.js as a backend for an online game. Does anyone know if it is viable or games that have used it?

It's viable. Drivers exist for most of the interesting storage engines you'd use for user records, leaderboards and the like. You'll need to pay attention to any server-side operations that require heavy CPU and ensure those tasks don't block time-critical operations.

You may or may not get the same level of concurrency as someone's custom-tuned C++ backend, but you won't have to pay an arm and a leg to license it, either. :)

What am I looking at? At first I thought that it does not work in Opera, but then I tried Chrome and nothing changed.

Is it still down for you?

No more impressive than the last node.js knockout competition page.

i'm not sure what it does other than moving the little person really slowly by pressing the arrow keys (using chrome)

Judging by the current state of the site you can enter text as well. 'Penis' seems to be the most popular for now.

Seriously. The idea is nice (albeit pointless?), but I just cannot understand this kind of 'humor' or abuse. Drawing app? Penises. Chat system? Penis!

Can we grow up?

ha ha. I experienced similar behavior on my own experiment (http://jamescryer.no.de/codesign#open). Is this a question of personal maturity or simply human nature?

I think they found the word 'Penis' scribbled on the wall in the ancient Pompeii ruins.

well, it certainly tells something: no matter what,for a guy his penis is the predominant thought in his mind. Specially when no one is looking :)

PENIS!

So what is it?

eats 100% of CPU

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