Why I'm Learning Node

Re:Why I'm Learning Node by bobz on Sunday April 08, 2012 @07:38AM (#3813612)

> I'd say it's almost like writing in assembly. You have to write your code in some pseudo code first, synchronously, then translate that into the asynchronous callback spaghetti than node requires.

This is a sign of a not-fully-adopted paradigm shift. Like, when someone first learns a new (spoken) language, they translate it to their native language in their head.

Fluent speakers don't translate, they simply understand. Similarly, when you fully grok functional programming, coding with callbacks will cease to feel unnatural.

That said, it does take some getting used to, which is a real cost that needs to be considered when choosing Node.

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Re:Why I'm Learning Node by irtopiste on Sunday April 08, 2012 @10:13AM (#3813881)

> Similarly, when you fully grok functional programming, coding with callbacks will cease to feel unnatural.

A minor remark from my experience with functional programming, continuation-passing style is actually something I prefer to avoid.

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Re:Why I'm Learning Node by wickedchicken on Sunday April 08, 2012 @03:27PM (#3814651)

> Similarly, when you fully grok functional programming, coding with callbacks will cease to feel unnatural.

I don't understand this comment. Javascript, while having first-class functions, does not have call/cc. This is the source of complaints that Javascript encourages callback-spaghetti. As people have mentioned elsewhere, continuation-passing style is meant for compilers, not humans.

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Re:Why I'm Learning Node by hasenj on Sunday April 08, 2012 @05:09PM (#3814916)

Thanks! I couldn't have phrased it any better.

This is why I said it's like writing assembly.

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