Is it recommended to build a forum using node.js? [closed]

Question

I've heard that node.js is really fast for applications like chats and real time apps. I was wondering if node is a good choice to develop a forum or a q&a site like StackOverflow?

Triptych

Answer 1

Yes it's perfectly possible, you don't have to implement your own web server like somebody said, you can just create it using something like Express (as a framework) and Mongoose (as a MongoDB ORM) or whatever you choose.

I think Node.js is a good solution for such a case because of its high concurrency (and Stack Overflow is a site where thousands of users are online in the same time probably). So yes you can achieve this with PHP, Ruby and Python etc, but I believe Node.js is a better fit (that's my opinion, based on the success stories I've heard which were based on Node).

Node isn't just a solution for building small services, here are some good examples ( https://nodejs.org/en/blog/uncategorized/an-easy-way-to-build-scalable-network-programs/ ).

Worrywart

Another thing in Node's favour is sharing common js libraries between server and client. – Aitch

Absolutely true, and besides that you can use Node.js on Windows as of 0.6.x (tested on W7 and XP and got Node and NPM installed in 2 minutes) – Worrywart

geekli.st is based on node.js, mongoose and express and I've heard they are quite happy with it – Margaretmargareta

trello.com also uses Express, Socket.IO and Redis (maybe even Mongoose not sure). – Worrywart

We are doing it at github.com/designcreateplay/NodeBB too. NodeJS+Express+Redis – Presocratic