Ask Slashdot: Node.js vs. JEE/C/C++/.NET In the Enterprise?

theshowmecanuck writes "I'm working at a small- to medium-sized company that creates software for mobile devices, but came from a 'large enterprise' world before. I see node.js being used increasingly in smaller companies (including ours) or in web/mobile related software. Meanwhile we see languages like Java/JEE, C/C++, and .NET continue to be used for medium-to-large enterprise corporate software. Compared to the status quo in the enterprise (JEE/C/C++/.NET ... and yes, maybe even COBOL) maybe Slashdotters can chime in on how they see Node.js in this role. I'm thinking of things like complexity of business logic (dependencies, workflows, linear processes, etc), transaction support (for processes in general and database support), messaging services, etc. Also, what is the state of Node.js in terms of paradigms like application containers, where much of the 'plumbing' is already set up for you (one of the main benefits of JEE application containers)? But there is also the question of maintainability, deployment, and ongoing operations. What say you, Slashdot?"

I think...

[gigaherz]

My oppinion is that Javascript is not bad as a scripting language, but we are abusing it and twisting it beyond its original purpose. The main issue is actually that Javascript is too flexible. Untyped code has an habit of hiding mistakes in hard-to-debug ways. But once you add types to Javascript, it's not Javascript anymore.

So, if you are working on a "pure" Web App, and you want to use one common language for the client code and the server code, then go on, use Node.js, add some packages for web services, database access, etc. and get it done. But if you want an environment that detects the mistakes as soon as you type them, runs relatively fast, can be statically verified, and still manages to keep a decent amount of flexibility, then there's nothing that compares to C#/dotNET.

I can not speak about anything more enterprise-oriented, but I assume the more oriented something is, the more rigid it becomes at thinking anything out of it's "ruleset" must be a mistake.

C++ is what it is. It's fast, mature, complicated, and flexible. If you want something done ASAP, don't use C++. If you want the result to be easily portable to other platforms, don't use C++. If you want the code to be safe (against hacking) without much effort, don't use C++. If you want the code to be easy to maintain, don't use C++. But in the end, it's your choice.

Errmmmh ... what was your question?

[Qbertino]

Sorry, your rambling - that is supposed to be a question I presume - is a tad incoherrent. But I do think I catch your overall drift, so I'll chime in:

I think the overall issue is basically about programming languages. Wether it's some software runtime enironment or the other - in the case of JS Node.js just happens to be the first to revive JS on the serverside.

To the case:
Wether or not a PL takes over is dependant on things that usually have nothing to do with the PL itself. Once a PL is sufficient enough .... ok, scratch that. Take for instance PHP. PHP was a joke when it becam popular. 2 guys had a thing called Zend engine and they decided to craft it around a Perl based templating "language" that was becoming popular - mostly because Perl is quite bizar to handle and it was the most popular web scripting language back then. They built PHP 3 based on the zend engine, then a mod-php was added for the popular webserver Apache and the rest is history. All things went web, as a result we have PHP pissing into serious Java territory today. I remember when PHP was a joke and JSP seemed to be posed to rule the webworld for decades to come. That didn't happen, mostly due to political reasons. ...
Had Netscape released their webserver as FOSS back in the mid-90ies, we'd all be using JS as serverside language ever since, since JS was the serverside language on the Netscape Enterprise Server.

I think compiled languages are impractical for web environments, for reasons everyone can come up with, so that rules out C and C++. For every environment that is set up from scratch I can't think of a single expert that would recommend .Net. .Net exists because it banked on the existing Windows/MS legacy. The MS CLR may be a neat feat, but it is a MS lockin trap, and today it's mostly pointless, since abundant server power, virtualisation and simular things have made optimisation concerning multiple runtimes on one setup a non-issue.

This leaves us with JIT/bytecode compiled or interpreted languages. Here I see Java vs. all the rest (Python, PHP, JS, Ruby, etc.). It's basically Java vs. FOSS languages. Java *is* a FOSS language by now, but the problem is that Oracle is a very bad herald for FOSS Java, and the FOSS alternative, OpenJDK/SDK is bad/slow.

For the future of web I do see Node.js gaining lead position. Google put serious cash into aquiring V8 technology, improving it and putting it into Chrome. Flash was killed by Steve Jobs/iOS, pushing brilliant no-Flash-allowed devices (iPhones and iPads) into millions of end-user hands, so Google had to come up with a serious alternative. Hence JS/V8.

Not being stupid - selling software is *not* Googles business - they released the impressive V8 engine as FOSS, and some smart people put in the effort to port that engine to the serverside, where it is about to kick PHPs and Rubys ass, simply because it's at least as good as either of those *and* it is the same primary non-lockin language on the serverside as is on the clientside. Mind you, clientside JS only became popular once a guy wrote a famous blog article [adaptivepath.com] in which he renamed "doing important smart things with JavaScript" into "Ajax", which is a cool name and thus made JS on the clientside popular with a lot of people who formerly had no interest in looking into JS seriously. We have the same effect when some smart guy decided that plain Java objects weren't used and other things like EJBs were more popular simply because regular Java objects didn't have a cool name. So he named them Pojos (Plain Old Java Objects) and solved the problem. Any serious respectable Java toolkit today uses Pojos at its heart.

Bottom line: Wether a tech or PL catches on, gains traction and becomes the next big thing is usually rooted in issues one would not think as relevant right away - things like 'Does the tech have a cool name?', among others. That sa

Re:Who you gonna call?

[Xest]

He's probably talking about the .NET connector which allows Oracle databases to be consumed by .NET framework features like the EF or to integrate with tools in visual studio.

But either way what he says shouldn't ever happen. The .NET connectors don't just randomly break unless you upgrade to a version that's broken. If you test and integration test and everything works then don't upgrade without regression testing. If you upgrade and don't regression test and it breaks then it serves you fucking right.

The GP's problem is one of a poor development, testing and go live procedure.

Re:I think...

[gigaherz]

I must assume you have never used C# 4.0, at least not in any serious way. The language, the class library and the VM are all vastly superior in performance, features, and flexibility. Yes, Java has some advantages, mostly that there's a java VM for any device (although Java lost the ME market share, so the number isn't as big as it used to be), over overall? It can't compare.