Node.js is a JavaScript runtime built on Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine that allows for asynchronous and non-blocking code execution. It is well-suited for real-time applications due to its event-driven and scalable nature. The document compares Node.js to other web servers like Nginx and PHP, showing that Node.js has faster performance for simple tasks and handling concurrent requests. Examples of real-world Node.js applications include chat sites, multiplayer games, and push notification services. Resources for learning more about Node.js are provided.

1. How to node!

2. What is Node?
• Javascript on the server
• Asynchronous and non-blocking code
• Event driven
• Scalable real-time applications

3. Existing solutions
• NGINX
• Tornado
• Thin

4. Node v/s PHP
PHP Node
"Hello World"
3177.27 5579.30
Simple html file
"File Read" 20.31 47.21
Textfile of 100KB
"Read Remote File" 3.21 6.43
Read a remote page and deliver

5. Node v/s the rest
Tested under Ubuntu using a Intel Core 2 Duo,2.53 GHz, 4 GB memory, Approximately 100 byte response for each

6. Node v/s the rest
Same environement. Variables : Fixed concurrency of 300, size of response

7. Javascript on the Server?
• Runs on Google’s V8 Engine

8. Conventional Server
• Request is processed sequentially
• Queued requests

9. Asynchronous Server
• Concurrent execution
• Non-blocking code
• Scalable

10. How does Node do it all?

11. Node Server
//Node
http = require('http');
http.createServer(function(request, response){
response.writeHead(200);
response.write('Hello World');
response.end();
}).listen(8000);

12. Event Driven
//JS
window.onload = function(){
document.body.innerHTML = 'Hello World';
};
//Node
http = require('http');
http.createServer(function(request, response){
response.writeHead(200);
response.write('Hello World');
response.end();
}).listen(8000);

13. Examples

14. Real World Real Time App
• Hummingbird
• Wheat
• Multi player games
• Real time push notifications

15. Extend Node
• NPM
• Socket.io
• Now
• Express.js

16. How to Node?
• Why to Node?
• When to Node?
• When not to?

17. Resources
• http://nodejs.org
• http://npmjs.org
• http://howtonode.org
• http://github.com/joyent/node

18. Thanks
Arjun Raj
(http://athousandnodes.com | @athousandnodes)