Second stable branch of Node.js arrives
The developers of Node.js have announced the availability of version 0.4 of the server-side, event-driven JavaScript framework. This is the second stable branch of the framework; the first stable branch was 0.2. Node.js is becoming popular with developers who want to use the same JavaScript techniques they use in the browser to provide the server-side processing for their applications.
Version 0.4 incorporates an overhaul of the TLS/SSL system which undoes the interweaving of the socket code, and OpenSSL to create a more simple architecture and API. Other changes include a simpler HTTP client API with pooled connections, better performance with cheaper allocation of the extensively used Buffer
object, changes to the module loading system and the beginnings of a native Windows build. An os module was also added which provides information on free memory, load averages and cpu configuration.
Internally, Node.js has been upgraded to the latest version of V8, the JavaScript interpreter/compiler, to version 3.1.2 with a new compilation infrastructure and GDB plugin for Linux; a built in, "primitive but usable" client for the V8 debugger was also added to Node.js. Many bugs were also fixed and these are detailed in the full change log. Node.js is available under an MIT licence and can be downloaded from the project's web site.
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