Node.js News for 2017

With npm version 5 we gained a lot of welcome new features and performance improvements. I've been happily using npm@5 for several months, but recently discovered a major problem that dramatically affects my workflow. When I'm updating a package, I want to test that package locally WITHOUT pushing changes to the Git repository. To do so, I found it best to install that package into another project to test/run the code. This worked great with npm versions prior to npm@5, but now I have two major problems. First, npm modifies the package.json to insert a "file:" dependency, overwriting the existing dependency, and second it makes a symlink to the package rather than doing a proper installation.

Node.js is no longer limited to server-side application development. The Electron platform, popularized through the Atom editor, is an excellent way to develop desktop applications. Now it's possible to target mobile devices running either iOS or Android using a Node.js implementation. Janea Systems is offering a "library" for both iOS and Android systems allowing an app to host a full Node.js execution environment, and offering UI implementation either with Cordova or React Native.

A month ago we suddenly had news of a hostile fork of Node.js, called Ayo.js, by Node.js team members upset over what they called Code of Conduct violations. Supposedly another Node.js team member was routinely harrassing people (a claim he has denied) and spoke against having a Code of Conduct. I don't know whether any of that is true. What's necessary is to check in with Ayo.js, see what they're doing, and if there is any compelling technical reason for their existence.

Going by the Ayo.js issue queue, that team is considering the same problem. Several issues are suggesting breaking changes with Node.js, that might produce a superior implementation. In one issue the folks are explicitly debating whether they should maintain one-for-one compatibility, or to strike out on their own.

Over the last couple days, a group of Node.js project members who'd worked in the Technical Steering Committee resigned, and at the same time Node.js was forked to create the Ayo.js project. The name was chosen because it's pronounced similarly to IO, in other words this seems to be an attempt to resurrect the IO.JS fork. According to Twitter and Medium postings I've found, there are allegations of repeated Code of Conduct violations by one TSC member, and an unwillingness of other committee members to take action. Bottom line, the people involved are questioning whether the leadership of the Node.js project are properly committed to "community" and "inclusivity".

An open source software project is about much more than the code. A successful project is comprised of a community of people successfully working together. Often such projects are volunteer driven, and membership is on merit and contributions. Bottom line is that community dynamics often drive decisions about who is "in" the project and who isn't. By contrast contributing to a traditional commercial software project simply means having been hired by a company to do the work.