Question

I am really confused with everybody in JS community using Node.js and NPM with their JS libraries. Why do we have to resort to such extreme measures? What problems is this solving for us?

[Edit]
I think my question wasn’t to the point.

1. Frameworks like Ember.js, Batman.js and more recently Yahoo’s Mojito require me to use node.js – why this dependency on Node.js and NPM?
2. Why are we making things complex? “If you haven’t already, you’ll need to install node.js…” You read messages like this and you’re turned off.

Why? There is already a problem of plenty in JS – far too many active JS libs/frameworks to choose from – going by the record of JS libs most will become inactive soon. There are just too many things to look for that often result in multiple frameworks in an app – dependency management, routers, MVC, templating, etc. On top of this we are using Node.js to use these libs/frameworks… How will this push usage of these libraries to new JS developers? JS was meant to easy!

Answer 1

“If you haven’t already, you’ll need to install node.js…” You read messages like this and you’re turned off. Why?

NodeJS is Google’s V8 “running on it’s own”. It’s a JS engine with additional low-level API (Network,I/O,etc.). NodeJS provides “the missing platform” for JS developers, who were just limited to working on a browser.

why this dependency on Node.js and NPM?

Node.js, aside from using it as an app (servers, proxies, bots etc.), it can also be used as a tool build and aid development. Take for example Grunt which is a scriptable automation tool which is similar to Make. Scripting in just plain JS, you need not learn another tool or language to do automation. Another tool is Bower, which is a front-end package management tool. All you need to do is a bower install jquery and it installs jquery with that single command. No need for manual download, copy and paste.

NPM, on the other hand, is Node.js’ package manager. It’s a program that manages the modules you use on NodeJS. No need to list down your modules manually, and no need to remember them when you develop somewhere else. As long as you have the package list NPM made for you, reinstalling is just a matter of npm install.

Why are we making things complex?

We’re not. In fact, we’re making them easy for developers. Instead of worrying on your workflow, managing your libraries, or doing stuff manually, you can off-load these tasks to some of the modules that exist on NPM. Then you can just focus on what you are actually doing.

On top of this we are using Node.js to use these libs/frameworks… How will this push usage of these libraries to new JS developers? JS was meant to easy!

Like mentioned above, NodeJS is a versatile platform. It can be used as a server (Connect, Express), an automation tool (Grunt), a package management system (using NPM, Bower etc.), a testing platform (QUnit, Mocha), a proxy, game server, chat bot.

And it’s beneficial, especially to the JS developer, since these weren’t possible in JS.

There is already a problem of plenty in JS – far too many active JS libs/frameworks to choose from – going by the record of JS libs most will become inactive soon. There are just too many things to look for that often result in multiple frameworks in an app – dependency management, routers, MVC, templating, etc.

Well, it’s good to have an abundant set of frameworks. Your work will be cut in half after learning some of them. Implementation diversity is also good, to address different styles of coding and different approaches of implementation. Some libraries rise from differing approaches, while others rise from the incompatibilities and/or incompleteness of others.

The developers are hard at work to make life easier for other developers by normalizing JS quirks (because browser vendors just can’t seem to do the right thing of following standards) and most of them are done voluntarily, like free beer – you should be happy for that. Besides, nobody’s forcing you to use one anyway.