Node.js should vanish (except for where it is already deployed and useful, in maintenance/legacy mode) and all those really smart and talented people currently wasting their time on it should go build something even better and more useful.
There. How's that? ;-)
(Like this: http://swannodette.github.io/)
I have experience with Python and Twisted. For many types of applications such as realtime web collaboration, the Node stack is not only much easier to use but performs better.
If you like Python then take a look at ToffeeScript. It is cleaner than Python and works with Node.
The Node package management system is based on semantic versioning and combined with the dependency management and massive 54000 module easily searchable ecosystem is much more useful than Python.
You really don't know what you are talking about and you are pissing me off with your offhanded winky smug dismissal of Node and Node programmers.
I have been coding for more than 20 years using many different languages and platforms from c/c++ to ocaml to python to c#. And Node.js with ToffeeScript and npm is just a more advanced way to do development compared to any of those for most types of applications.
Build a few projects using Node.js and ToffeeScript and modules from npm and then come back and we will compare the experience to building the equivalent with Python/Twisted or Go.
By the way I like Go for some things but its not the best new language for systems development. I think Rust and nimrod have Go beat.
Thank you for calling me on my B.S. in a way that I can really relate to and respect.
Next: Yes, I'm ignorant of Node et. al. but my point is kind of that I shouldn't have to know about it at all, because Node shouldn't exist, and all the effort that went into it would have been better spent on other things.
Really my issue is with the whole industry and I'm just picking on Node because that's what I saw this morning. The Tornado project gave me similar misgivings.
I feel like we are constantly reinventing things (GUI widgets, IRC/IM/chat, Twisted/Tornado/NodeJS/..., video codecs, and on and on) yet certain basic really simple and important things (like getting a file from one computer to another, or UI design) are eternally neglected.
Why the heck is Dropbox a thing? You feel me?
You have actually given me food for thought, and I will check out Node.js with ToffeeScript. I'm a little leery of 54000 modules but I take your point.
But, without meaning to be harsh on Node in particular, I really feel like our industry has to kind of grow up some how. I never thought I would hate on innovation for its own sake, but it is starting to get a little ridiculous, and, from my POV, JS on the server seems a little bit too much JS. Now that it's there, and someone with your XP says it works well, well there you go, I suppose that's not a bad thing.
I apologize again for being a mouthy ignorant punk. I'll try to at least know what I'm talking about if it happens again.
Such as, for example, why don't we have an easy to use program like Dropbox that is just built in to every operating system, or freely available and in common use? Rather than having a bunch of people rely on this commercial system just to transfer files or make them available on the internet.
I agree that we are reinventing things an amazing number of times. I think we have at least 5 times as many crappy ways to accomplish basic things as we need. And certainly more cohesion is called for.
On the other hand I think that people often don't appreciate how changes to fundamental approaches are the best way to solve problems because problems are often structural or caused by the way the issues are framed.
I agree that there is too much reinventing the wheel and fragmentation of effort. I don't believe that Node.js is a good example of that. Although 54000 modules is too many and there is quite a lot of redundancy and crap in there. But having a very easy way to publish, consume and search for modules as well as instantly handle dependencies is a step forward.
Obviously I don't know enough about Node.js to put it down (and from what you've said if I knew it better I think I'd like it.)
Cheers (and I will check out ToffeeScript, thanks.) :)