| I still believe a lot of the hype for node comes from the absurdly large number of js-only or virtually js-only developers who enjoy the idea of using the language they have grown so familiar with everywhere where possible. The trend gets accelerated because most new programmers start with javascript, or soon switch to javascript because they see it as the one language they can do "the most" with. The fresh blood is, due to being new to programming, very explorative and curious about platforms and such drive the use of (back then) experimental tools up a lot. I personally think that both PHP as well as javascript suffer from being designed not just with flat-out bad syntax, but also for a rather narrow use case and then being adopted widely for lack of widespread availability of other tools. As a result they are used in places they were not expected to be used and for systems of scale that they were not intended to handle. The backend of the future may run with node or it may run with PHP, I hope for neither. There are languages out there with more powerful and safer abstractions, with more carefully designed APIs and standard libraries that do not just clutter the global namespace, with usable import functionality from the get go and with type checking and -inference. But that's just my two cents, I could be wrong :) |
It would be really nice if you could name those languages and your experience with them.