[driverdan]

While there have been some very good attempts at making server-side JS (SSJS) work, IMO NodeJS is the first to get it right. With the growing ubiquity of JS, the scalability of NodeJS, and the explosion of JS-based document storage its success is not surprising.

The ability to create a scalable platform that uses the same language from data storage to UI means developers can focus on being a JS expert without having to spread their time and abilities thin being mediocre in many languages.

[smoody]

I totally agree re: single language/data model instead of spreading time and abilities. It is definitely cool to know a variety of programming languages (and I've used about a dozen of them in commercial work). But it's great to work with a single language from top to bottom -- like we do when writing native apps). In my opinion, it frees-up brain space and cycles.