Tom Hughes-Croucher on Node

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By Tom Hughes-Croucher

Publisher: O'Reilly Media

Released: March 2011

Run time: 2 hours 25 minutes

Learn how to build scalable Internet applications with Node.js, the event-driven server-side JavaScript framework. This learning video shows you how Node.js solves many scaling and speed problems that weigh down other web application frameworks. You get practical guidance for everything from installing Node.js to writing your first application, with hands-on exercises along the way.

Scaling Internet applications is tricky business to begin with, but many developers make it more difficult by using languages and platforms optimized for computation. Discover how Node.js helps you address the most important factors in these applications, such as communication and latency. This video gets you started.

Six video chapters help you:

Learn how server-side JavaScript gives you access to a large base of existing application libraries, and lets you reuse code on both the client and server.
Find out how Node solves problems specific to Internet application programming, and why this framework is faster than traditional solutions. Become familiar with tools that make application programming easy.
Compile and troubleshoot the Node.js install, and understand the problems you’re likely to face when writing your first Node application.
Discover how Node.js takes a different approach than other programming languages, and how the event loop helps you get the most out of the framework.
Learn about the extensions to Node for writing applications—especially the Express framework, which helps you build apps in the MVC style.
Explore common methods for writing and maintaining your application, overcome common pitfalls with event-driven programming.

Introduction / Why Server-Side JavaScript? 22 minutes
What Is Node? (Free Preview) 12 minutes
Using Node Part 1: Installation 12 minutes
Using Node Part 2: Basics 29 minutes
Using Node Part 3: Getting Stuck In 12 minutes
Using Node Part 4: Express.js 10 minutes
Understanding Node 22 minutes
Node Ecosystem 10 minutes
Programming Style 12 minutes

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O'Reilly Media Tom Hughes-Croucher on Node

1.8

(based on 4 reviews)

of respondents would recommend this to a friend.

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Displaying reviews 1-4

5/21/2011

(6 of 6 customers found this review helpful)

3.0

Not up to par for O'Reilly

By John Brady

from Exeter, RI

About Me Designer, Developer, Maker, Sys Admin

Pros

Cons

Difficult to understand
Not comprehensive enough

Best Uses

Novice

Comments about O'Reilly Media Tom Hughes-Croucher on Node:

Tom Hughes-Croucher on Node is a nine-part video tutorial which is described as showing the viewer how Node.js solves some scaling and speed issues, as well as guiding the viewer from the basics of installation through writing a first application in Node.

After viewing the series, I can say that I have a deeper interest in knowing what Node.js can actually *do* for me and will be researching it's potential uses. That would be because the underlying technology sounds interesting, not because of this video series.

Unfortunately there are too many problems with this offering to give it a positive review.

While Hughes-Croucher obviously understands the framework, his presentation technique is fairly dry and repetitive. Code examples are discussed without the relevant portions of the screen being highlighted, which is annoying, and just as you're typing the content into a Node shell, the presentation switches back to narration. The examples themselves never really tie into a coherent whole.

Exercises are assigned at the end of several chapters, but a solution is never shown. I can see that my code either works or does not, but lacking any feedback I have no idea if it's done in the "Node.js way".

Overall, this might be OK if presented at a conference, with solutions and more interaction possible, but the video series is not of great value.

5/19/2011

(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

2.0

Not What I'd Expect from O'Reilly

By Michael Dominick

from Mays Landing, NJ

About Me Developer

Pros

Accurate
Easy to understand

Cons

Not comprehensive enough

Best Uses

Novice
Student

Comments about O'Reilly Media Tom Hughes-Croucher on Node:

f you are looking for a video tutorial on how to get started using Node.js, then this is not the video for you. Unlike most of the O'Reilly training videos, this one puts theory far before practical development concerns, making it all but useless for practical study.

Worse still, Croucher spends a good deal of time doing what can only be described as justifying the use of JavaScript on the server. It was interesting the first time he mentioned and probably necessary, since we tend to cast the language as a client side only tool, but when he repeats his point over and over again it sounds like he is speaking from a position of frustration or desperation rather than authority.

Still, this video is not all bad. Though it did not teach me what I was looking to learn, it has forced me to reevaluate my opinion of JavaScript and has made even more hungry for information on Node.js. Further, Croucher does make some good comparisons between Node.js and other technologies (mostly PHP but he does mention Ruby / Rails and Python also). If anything, he has convinced me that I do not necessarily need a large framework like Rails or Django for my personal projects.

It should also be mentioned that Croucher is writing a book Node: Up and Running that may contain more practical samples. Perhaps he intends for the book and the video to be used in conjunction with one another?

I would not recommend this to a friend unless some more real-world or practical examples were added to the content.

4/21/2011

(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

1.0

Didn't liked it

By TaQ

from São José do Rio Preto, SP, Brazil

About Me Developer

Pros

Cons

Boring
Lack of answers
Too basic

Best Uses

Comments about O'Reilly Media Tom Hughes-Croucher on Node:

See, Tom talks a lot about Node and all the technologies involved. A LOT.

We don't see too much code on the videos, and to me the worst parts are the final parts when asking for answers to some questions/make some exercises where the answers are never shown. We can write the exercises code but we'll never know if we did it right or if the way we wrote it are the best solution.

The videos at the same time don't show clearly the basics of Node to novices - not even a link to docs and APIS! - and don't add valuable information to who already knows it.

I think - and hope - Tom's coming book about Node will be a better investment than this videos.