Server Side JavaScript Programming Comes to Windows Azure with Node.js
A holiday update Windows Azure SDK for Node.js can help get you started with server-side JavaScript on Windows Azure.
Node.js offers a server side JavaScript programming model ideal for building highly scalable and performant network applications whether on premise or in the cloud. One of its flagship qualities is that it leads you down a path of writing code that is using non-blocking IO thus achieving greater scale. Another is the fact that it is super small and lightweight. It has a very rich ecosystem of modules like express and socket.io which developers can pull in using the awesome node package manager otherwise known as npm. Thanks to the excellent partnership between Joyent and Microsoft we were able to port Node and NPM on Windows to enable a new class of applications.
Highlights of this preview:
- Windows Azure PowerShell for Node.js 0.5.1 update, including new cmdlets for easily enabling Remote Desktop, as well as SSL support.
- iisnode 0.1.13 update, including significant performance improvements (>2x throughput of the previous version)
- Node.js 0.6.6 update from Joyent, including a more stable npm
- Installer in-place upgrade support for all these components, so you can just click the WebPI link (linked from the dev center) and it will upgrade your existing installation of these components if you already have the previous version, or install them all if you don’t.
- Numerous bug fixes in all three components
Learn more about Node.js and how to get started:
Get the December update.
Bruce D. KyleISV Architect Evangelist | Microsoft Corporation
