Server-side JavaScript development and hosting

http://www.akshell.com/#

by shawndumas • 15 years ago

60 18 15 years ago

sktrdie• 15 years ago

Interesting. They're using V8 but I don't think they're using Node.js... they seem to have a custom made solution on top of V8.

wccrawford2• 15 years ago

Interesting, but 2 problems for me:

1) No prices listed. I don't like getting into something and then finding out the prices aren't acceptable.

2) No Coffeescript. Okay, technically anything that runs Javascript is good for Coffeescript, but it would be nice if the integrated editor would deal with it, too.

olegp8• 15 years ago

We haven't decided on the price points yet, but there is also no lock in as the server code is being open sourced. You will be able to self host.

We use the Ace editor, which supports Coffeescript.

wccrawford2• 15 years ago

You should really do something about #2. You're missing a huge movement simply because you haven't mentioned the word 'Coffeescript' anywhere I could find. I just went back and looked to make sure I didn't miss it. So if it's there, it's really not in the right places.

mwill• 15 years ago

Here's the HN submission from last year: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1261786

Not sure how much the product has changed since then. Straight off it doesn't use node.js (In the older thread he mentions it's because it's asynchronous thus not simplistic enough), which strikes me as an odd choice (Maybe it made more sense when node.js was younger).

I would absolutely use this as often as possible if it used node.js, it would make an awesome jsfiddle for server side code.

olegp8• 15 years ago

I agree about the need to migrate over to Node.

Separately from Akshell I'm working on Common Node (http://olegp.github.com/common-node/) which uses node-fibers to implement a number of (synchronous) CommonJS proposals. This now allows for a Rails like, synchronous framework to be built for Node and RingoJS.

If it makes sense in the future, I might also port some of the Akshell libraries to run on top of Common Node.

tlrobinson2• 15 years ago

I love the idea of node-fibers and Common Node. What are the drawbacks you've run into so far?

The Node community seems pretty resistant to alternative concurrency models like fibers, etc, which I think is unfortunate.

albertsun• 15 years ago

Wow. It's really impressive how responsive the interface is and how much it feels like a native IDE.

tlrobinson2• 15 years ago

Built using Cappuccino :)

olegp8• 15 years ago

Given how relatively little attention Akshell received prior to the new IDE, I'd say Cappuccino is the main reason for all the attention it's getting. So thank you!

Anton has written a post in Russian on his experiences with Cappuccino: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&js...

I've actually translated the first part to English and am hoping to publish it on DailyJS in the near future.

olegp8• 15 years ago

Here's what happened the last time Akshell was on the HN front page: http://blog.akshell.com/hn-effect/

Kof• 15 years ago

I have a problem with akshell, just in 5 minutes of looking at it I have 1001 concern. I just want to list a few of them:

1. I am not sure the world need such a system which has javascript environment, database and online IDE in one place. Its kind of trying to do a lot of things but doesn't get anything of them really right. There are much better solutions for each out of there, f.e. managed node hosting from nodejitsu or online IDE from cloud9.

2. it seems to be an own C++ environment written around of V8. It is written by a very small group of people, or only one? It can not be such battle tested and good like nodejs is.

3. APIs are not well written, this guys have to learn from nodejs.

4. Coding conventions used in main js lib I can see directly in the shell are ugly ... well everybody can see its done by C coder, but its not the point.

5. Code quality and structure of this ak lib are bad ... thousands of classes in one file.

6. Global functions, extended native prototypes, not fully commonjs spec conform modules implementation. Well fuck, why? Didn't we learn in last 10 years that a spec is important, extending native prototypes is bad for the most cases?

6. Using a relational database is bad enough, but there is no way to use any other database? Come on!, nosql is here!!! Why not to use mongodb, couchdb etc. or at least to provide a choice.

7. Test coverage of the default lib must be a joke. Such important stuff should be completely test driven developed.

8. Once again, the API is really bad !!! I just don't know where to start from … I can't do this here.

I hope I didn't hurt somebodys feelings too much.

olegp8• 15 years ago

Thank you for your feedback, it's really useful. I'll answer some of these, maybe Anton will pipe in as well.

1. There are benefits to having the platform and IDE tightly integrated such as it lowers the barrier to entry, allows for faster roll out of new features that require an interface between the two etc. Probably the biggest one is that it allows one to take social coding to the next level by showing not only how many followers a given package has, but also showing whether it passed unit tests, how many productions apps rely on it etc.

2. This is answered in a separate thread below.

5. Agree that the ak lib needs to split up into more modules and packages.

6. You can use any other database as a service offering you want (e.g. MongoHQ, IrisCouch etc.). There's a TCP socket class and a CommonJS compatible HttpClient module that you can use to talk to them: https://github.com/olegp/ak-httpclient

wavephorm• 15 years ago

Although IDE-as-a-service is probably eventually going to be commonplace, it's going to be a tough sell today. Developing web apps, especially apps that back a mobile application, is hard enough as it is.

olegp8• 15 years ago

IDE and platform as a service offerings should make mobile development easier, not harder. If you're developing locally you need to somehow keep an open port via your NAT so that your mobile (web?) app and third party services can access it. With Akshell that URL is publicly available from the get go.

Server-side JavaScript development and hosting

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