"I have a mind like a steel... uh... thingy." Patrick Logan's weblog.

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Saturday, March 12, 2011

Node.js and the Javascript Tools Ecosystem

I recently have been picking up some javascript tools to test the waters of "serious" programming in that language (browser-side or otherwise). Although I've not used node.js yet for application development, it curiously shows up in several javascript-based shell tools.

And it works fine so far. My initial impression was, "Why use a web server to run shell tools?" But, e.g. docco installed perfectly using node.js and npm.

Being a skeptic, I first tried pycco, a a similar tool but more traditionally installed pythonically. Something wasn't right and it didn't run. This is just one, unfair, data point. But it was a reassuring experience that javascript tools are showing up and working fine.

Another javascript tool installed and run using node.js and npm is PEG.js, a parser generator based on, well, PEGs (parsing expression grammars).

These tools run fine, and I'm thinking they startup much more quickly than the java-based rhino javascript runtime tools. I've not bothered to investigate though.

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About Me

Portland, Oregon, United States
I'm usually writing from my favorite location on the planet, the pacific northwest of the u.s. I write for myself only and unless otherwise specified my posts here should not be taken as representing an official position of my employer. Contact me at my gee mail account, username patrickdlogan.