Hey, so I've been reading a lot about Node.js and want to jump in with a quick (multi)weekend project to learn it. What apps would you suggest building to learn the basics and just have some fun?
I'd suggest using Express.js node.js framework: it gets you up and running quickly. Trying to so something with websockets is fun as well and indicative of the (realtime) future of web apps.
How about a dead simple document sharing website that lets people read the same doc, on multiple computers, at the same time? (i.e. if you have a bunch of people on a call with computers up, the speaker can send around a reading link that lets him or her flip pages for everyone viewing.) I find myself wishing for this functionality pretty regularly lately. Broadcasting the pointer, real time comments & annotations seem cool too.
I made a Tweet Wall in a day, with Socket.io (for websockets) and TwitterNode (for connecting to Twitter's real-time search API). It was a pretty good intro to the concepts.
I did a twitter to facebook page poster (using the like button), but haven't really been maintaining it. Maybe one that was better?<p><a href="http://t2fb.paulisageek.com/" rel="nofollow">http://t2fb.paulisageek.com/</a>