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• Potential benefits and drawbacks of using JavaScript or other languages in such environments |
• Upcoming release of Node.js will include new native API and Async 0.8 |
• Discussion on getting new people into Node.js/JavaScript development |
• Debate on whether to learn vanilla JavaScript or libraries like React and jQuery first |
• Importance of focusing on specific goals and interests when learning programming concepts |
• Comparison between self-taught developers and those with a CS background |
• Using real-world examples and projects to capture people's interest in programming |
• Importance of having tangible goals and breaking down complex tasks into smaller parts |
• Free Code Camp as a resource for learning programming with structured lessons and real-world projects |
• Incremental learning through resources like Codecademy's intro to JavaScript course and Mozilla's Developer Network site |
• The importance of finding something that grabs one's interest and sticking with it, rather than just learning the fundamentals |
• Resources for learning testing in JavaScript, such as Rebecca Murphy's repository |
• Motivation for learning programming is often driven by enjoyment and a desire to create things, not just getting a job |
• Discussion on the early days of web development and how websites like MySpace allowed users to customize and learn about programming by doing |
• Comparison between customizing profiles on MySpace/NeoPets and using modern platforms like WordPress/SquareSpace that make customization more difficult |
• The impact of ubiquity of the web and tech culture on driving people towards building apps or getting rich rather than learning to code |
• The difference between a need to customize and learn to program vs. having it done for you by others |
• Discussion on modern equivalents of MySpace, such as Tumblr, and how they allow for customization and community-building |
• Introduction to Mastodon, a decentralized social network that allows users to host their own instance and participate in the larger network |
• Mastodon's community and moderation challenges |
• Comparison to Twitter and other social networks |
• Features and tools available on Mastodon |
• Federated model and instance management |
• Verification and authentication methods (e.g. Web of Trust) |
• Code of conduct and safety features for marginalized groups |
• Enforcing content filtering in federated network |
• Discussion of how platforms can handle abuse and moderation |
• Comparison between Facebook's timeline problem and potential benefits of hyper-federation |
• Example of 4chan/Achan-like problems in decentralized systems |
• Picks of the week: |
+ Rachel White: Nolan Lawson's Mastodon branch |
+ Alex Sexton: Keybase.io for encryption and identity verification |
+ Mikeal Rogers: WebTorrents as a library for content delivery |
**Mikeal Rogers:** Hey, everybody! Welcome to JS Party, where it's party every week with JavaScript. I'm Mikeal Rogers... |
**Rachel White:** I'm Rachel White... |
**Alex Sexton:** And I'm Alan Samson. \[laughter\] |
**Mikeal Rogers:** There we go... Can't even get the right intro without Alex cracking wise. \[laughs\] Alright, we've got a great show today. We're gonna talk a bit about Node.js native modules and VM neutrality, we're gonna talk about Mastodon - the project, not the band... Although we may talk about the band, too. W... |
We have this new thing coming into Node.js in the version 8 release - it's kind of a big deal - called N-API. People have been calling it Nappy for a while, and then they decide that they are no longer gonna call it Nappy, and it's just N-API now. |
Essentially, if you've done anything with Node.js for a long time, you probably at some point had to use a native module, or some module that you used a native module. |
**Alex Sexton:** Wait, wait, wait... Nappy? \[laughs\] Is that because it means diaper in Europe? That's how you say diaper in Europe. |
**Mikeal Rogers:** Oh, really? God... |
**Alex Sexton:** I'm pretty sure a nappy is like a diaper... |
**Rachel White:** Yeah, it is a diaper. \[laughter\] |
**Mikeal Rogers:** That's probably why we're not calling it that... It's just for Native API. |
**Alex Sexton:** Okay, that makes sense. |
**Mikeal Rogers:** \[laughs\] But anyway... So if you've been doing Node.js for really anything, you've had to deal with a native module. Native modules are -- we've been trying to rewrite the whole world in JavaScript, but sometimes you still need to bind to some kind of C or C++ module. Those modules basically get bo... |
The modules that you're using that are native are probably actually using this middle layer called NAN (Native Abstractions for Node), but all that does is really just kind of a marshal between an older version of Node and the V8 VM APIs there. |
This has been problematic for a number of reasons. One is that this really locks us into V8, but it also means that we break all of those native modules every major release of Node, because we take a new version of V8, and V8 has a new ABI in basically every release. |
If you've ever upgraded a major version of Node, you've probably had to recompile some of your projects in order to work. If you're on the frontend, it's probably because of the SaaS library - there's a really popular SaaS library written in C. If you do database stuff, it's probably the level ecosystem, if you do robo... |
There aren't that many native modules in the native ecosystem, but if you crawl through the deep dependencies, the depths of depths of depths, about 30% of the modules in npm are indirectly dependent on some kind of native module. Breaking all of those at a release sucks, nobody wants to do that. |
If another feature impacted 30% of the ecosystem, Node.js would do everything that it could to ensure that that never broke between major releases. Nothing that impacts the ecosystem that much, other than native modules, would ever be considered in the core project. |
We've been trying for a very long time to get past this, but the main problem has been that people need to support it - Google has to support an API that we can bind to indefinitely, right? They're not gonna guarantee support for any kind of middle layer. So even then, this native refactoring for Node - it went through... |
\[04:16\] So if we create an API and we wanna guarantee that it's gonna last forever, we need Google to support it, and we need any other VM that supports Node to support it. |
That brings us basically to io.js. In the io.js days, we started working a lot more with Google. Google was very happy that we were taking newer versions of V8 in io.js, and from that point on, certain members of the V8 team, particularly from the Google Cloud project, have been working really diligently on Node.js and... |
An effort was lead by Microsoft, because they, for Node Chakra (Node.js bound to Microsoft Chakra VM rather than Google's V8 engine), they had to just emulate the entire API... They really felt the pain of this problem, so they lead an effort along with Microsoft and even some people from Mozilla who were doing SpiderN... |
**Alex Sexton:** That's still going? |
**Mikeal Rogers:** Well, it was rebooted. |
**Alex Sexton:** Okay, got it. |
**Mikeal Rogers:** I would not say "still going." I think they took like a four-year break. |
**Alex Sexton:** Got it. |
**Mikeal Rogers:** Yeah, so they got basically rebooted around this whole native API effort. So now for the first time Node 8 (the eighth major version of Node.js), there will be a flag where you can try out this new native API, and people can start binding to it. It's really exciting, because now major versions are no... |
**Alex Sexton:** So back to how we pronounce it... \[laughter\] |
**Rachel White:** Awwgh... |
**Alex Sexton:** It reminds me -- there was like the NaCl and PNaCl... Some people called it PNaCl \[06:09\], which I always disliked... |
**Mikeal Rogers:** I liked calling it Nappy... I was told shortly after the N-API Working Group met that they no longer wanted to call it Nappy, and not a lot of people are referring to it as Nappy, so I've been respecting that... Even though I don't agree; I liked calling it Nappy. |
**Rachel White:** I can understand why people wouldn't wanna call it that. It could have a lot of negative connotations not just related to diapers, so... \[laughter\] But you know, diaper -- you don't want us to see your codebase with diapers anyway... |
**Mikeal Rogers:** \[laughs\] Yeah... |
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