Using node.js, backbone.js, socket.io, and redis to make a real time chat app

<i>&#62; Yes, you read correctly. JavaScript on the server. Weird huh? That’s what I thought.</i><p>Really? It wasn't so odd back in 1996 when the Netscape web server supported it. To be sure, V8 and node have wildly better performance characteristics..but the <i>idea</i> of js on the server isn't exactly new: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server-side_JavaScript" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server-side_JavaScript</a>.

For those interested, I made a simple multiplayer Facebook card game[1] for a client using the same technologies, plus Redis and CouchDB.<p>The source is unobfuscated, so you can check it out if you want.<p>[1] <a href="http://apps.facebook.com/alloutcricket/" rel="nofollow">http://apps.facebook.com/alloutcricket/</a>

&#62; <i>If you haven’t been reading about backbone.js, you might want to start (heh, see what I did there?).</i><p>Er, no, actually. Quick, someone sharper than I help me out!

I think this is fast becoming a stack of sorts - I just used it on an app and it scaled to 400 concurrent users beautifully.

Chat app could easily kill a server just a few years ago, at least using the "default" technology available for the mass. Now there are many solutions to write a scalable chat application. This is definitely a good point :)

I like the idea of transport transparency on the client, yet very much unlike the idea of writing JavaScript on the server.<p>I've never tried node.js but I'm very curious to know what it offers that, say, Twisted or .NET or any other framework with proper IO facilities doesn't.

I know its on Github, but a hosted demo would've been nice. I finally understood what backbone.js is. Seen posts all over HN not knowing what it is. Guess i had to understand what MVC is first(!) . Can you tell im new to programming? ;-)

ah, another chat program on node.js

Quick survey: if you could have the equivalent of this stack, with persistence, as a service, would that be interesting to you?<p>It would be RESTful relational database-as-a-service but where any individual item could show updates in real time. (E.g. real-time chat would just be a Javascript component.)

I've been looking for something like this! Can't wait to get started and fire up my chat server. Thanks!

I made a real-time chat app at a hackathon using this stack - minus backbone:<p><a href="http://www.hubabl.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.hubabl.com</a>