[danpeddle]

If you are building a service or API, then you can do that in whatever language you like. The natural language for writing client side apps is JS (ok, the only language, for now).

[vbuterin]

A couple alternatives are there:

http://coffeescript.org/ http://elm-lang.org/

[frontendbeauty]

Correct. If you're already writing a bunch of JavaScript for the client-side, then just think about this approach as migrating some of that client, UI logic to the server.

[CmonDev]

To have two problems instead of one?

[frontendbeauty]

There are already two problems, if you're building a rich client-side web app. Have you done this? If so, you would understand the problem.

[camus2]

but who writes clientside logic before serverside logic ?

[Wilya]

Front-end developers.

Frankly, Node is a way for front-end developers to write server-side code without having to learn too much new stuff.

[marrs]

No. Any thick client architecture has to deal with this problem. The current resource-oriented models (by which I mean they're focused on serving http resources) are severely limiting those of us who want to develop a web application.

Some people are side-stepping the issue by saying that the whole presentation layer must be moved to the front-end, but that approach is really incompatible with the web.

If anything, the current state of the front-end is thanks to server-side developers who want to bring their world view to the browser. (Think: MVC -> Backbone / Ruby -> Coffeescript -- apologies to the authors of those tools)

[CmonDev]

Yet they keep marketing it as a future for all developers. Thank you, but no, thank you.

[CmonDev]

"ok, the only language, for now" - which is deeply unnatural for such an innovative field as IT.