This book introduces you to Node, the new web development framework written in JavaScript. You'll learn hands-on how Node makes life easier for experienced JavaScript developers: not only can you work on the front end and back end in the same language, you'll also have more flexibility in choosing how to divide application logic between client and server.
Written by a core contributor to the framework, Node: Up and Running shows you how Node scales up to support large numbers of simultaneous connections across multiple servers, and scales down to let you create quick one-off applications with minimal infrastructure. Built on the V8 JavaScript engine that runs Google Chrome, Node is already winning the hearts and minds of many companies, including Google and Yahoo! This book shows you why.
Understand Node's event-loop architecture, non-blocking I/O, and event-driven programming
Discover how Node supports a variety of database and data storage tools
Learn best practices for writing easy-to-maintain code for Node
Get concrete examples of how to use the various Node APIs in practice
Take advantage of the book’s complete API reference
Tom Hughes-Croucher is a developer and technology evangelist. He’s worked for and with numerous well known brands, including Yahoo!, NASA, Tesco, Three Telecom, and UK Channel 4. Tom has contributed to a number of web standards for the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the British Standards Institute (BSI).
Mike has had the privilege of working with some of the largest and most influential brands in the world, including Disney, Microsoft and McDonalds. He has years of web development experience, designing and building everything from small business sites to large MMO server clusters hosting millions of players.In his free time Mike maintains his personal blog (http://www.alwaysgetbetter.com) and contributes to forums and experiments with emerging frameworks and software. Mike lives in Vancouver with his wife and their three children.
The animal on the cover of Node: Up and Running is a common tree shrew (Tupaia glis). These arboreal mammals are found in the southern parts of Southeast Asia. Common tree shrews live in forests, though they are also found in orchards and gardens. They are good climbers and can jump up to two feet between trees. They are active during the day, feeding on plants, seeds, and fruit, as well as ants, spiders, and small lizards.
Common tree shrews are 6–8 inches long, with a thick bushy tail as long as their bodies. They have pointed snouts and five-toed clawed feet. Their fur is black, gray, or reddish, with white on the belly. The genus name Tupaia comes from the Malay for “squirrel,” which the creatures somewhat resemble. Tree shrews were also thought for some time to be closely related to the primates, but they now have their own order, Scandentia.
Common tree shrews are sexually mature at a few months old, and they mate monogamously. The male constructs two separate nests—one for the parents and one for the young. Parental care is scant; the female visits the offspring to nurse them for a few minutes every two days.
The cover image is from Lydekker’s Natural History.
