Re: Hosting a Large Number of Node Apps on the IBM i

Kevin



What’s wrong with a little drama, haven’t you read Shakespeare or seen Fawlty
Towers ? *LOL*



I have decided to put node.js into what I call a complementary technology
to my main stack that are ILE based. I can’t see it as “a way to go” in
legacy systems on IBM I and will probably not be a high volume technology
in bringing existing users of IBM I forward, it is simply to “geeky” for
most IBM I programmers.



We have seen this before, IBM promoted JAVA in early days (remember the San
Francisco project), other technologies doesn’t either seems to bide in the
broad cake (RPGOA, PHP, PowerRuby etc.) while CGIDEV2 and Scotts HTTPAPI
seems more appealing to the community.



We both started out with CGIDEV2 and build frameworks around it. I build
powerEXT Core as a compatible extension of CGIDEV2 adding specially inline
JSON and XML support to it (RPG) but also a lot more that I needed to
support EXT JS. You went another way and making your CGIDECV2 version
incompatible with the original version and thereby the original users and
their code base.



Aaron states that CRUD is old fashioned unless you build SPA in pure
javascript (like EXT JS), but that is exactly what I do in EXT JS backed by
powerEXT REST/CRUD webservices and SPA on the fly program generators even
though the environments are completely separated.



Aaron has btw like a reed been swaying in the wind, he introduced an open
source project using EXT JS years ago, then he went for powerRuby and now
for node.js. This is very typical for young geeks that doesn’t has a
continuous strategy, I call them “technology jumpers” who leaves a trial of
what they did yesterday for others to thought out after they have left the
building and moved forward to other new technologies.



CGIDEV2 and it looks alike has proven to be a much more sustainable
technology that anything else any else has come up with in regards to
moving IBM I (and the 68 years old OPM programmer) to the net. But that is
only my NSHO (Not So Humble Opinion) ;-)



On Fri, Oct 16, 2015 at 3:35 AM, Kelly Cookson <KCookson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Nathan,

It appears to me that Node.js is more suited for "simple" "applets".

I'm too new to node to argue against this claim. But I do know that node
is being used by companies like Walmart, LinkedIn, PayPal, NetFlix, Dow
Jones, and more. Walmart released node on Black Friday of 2013 to handle
their mobile traffic (about half of all www.walmart.com traffic).
LinkedIn is using node for all of their mobile. Are the companies just
listed using node for "simple applets," as you are conceiving simple
applets?

Thanks,

Kelly Cookson
IT Project Leader
Dot Foods, Inc.
1.217.773.4486 ext. 12676
kcookson@xxxxxxxxxxxx

-----Original Message-----
From: WEB400 [mailto:web400-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Nathan
Andelin
Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2015 6:43 PM
To: Web Enabling the IBM i (AS/400 and iSeries)
Subject: Re: [WEB400] Hosting a Large Number of Node Apps on the IBM i

A developer can also create "sub-apps" or modules within a "node app"
using ExpressJS router and module.exports. "Sub-apps" do not have
their own port numbers.

Here's a little bit of trivia; when I click on the link to "expand" this
conversation in Gmail, it leads to a 1.8 Megabyte download. Maybe someone
should start a new thread ;-)

Kelly,

It appears to me that the idea of "sub-apps" in Express.js is a "router"
within a "router". A "sub-app" is NOT an otherwise functional application,
if I understand correctly.

Given the already obscure interface exposed by Express.js, their idea of
"routers" within "routers" or "apps" within "apps" becomes even less clear.

They use regular expressions including wild-card characters to compare
"routes" to URL "paths" which is another difficult concept. There is quite
a bit of "overhead" in matching URLs with regular expressions.

After more thought, I'm still hung-up on the "necessity" of restarting a
Node.js service every time a routing configuration changes, which occurs
with every new "functional application" that is added to the service (every
new URL which is defined). We're adding new applications to our Web portal
daily during "sprints".

The need for an external router which includes fail-over support would be
an absolute requirement. When you combine "applications" with "routing" and
"HTTP services" in a single process, developers come up with all kinds of
unforeseen ways to bring down the entire lot. Maybe it's as simple as a
condition that results in a continuous loop. And it's unclear what may have
caused it.

It appears to me that Node.js is more suited for "simple" "applets".
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