In this session, we'll introduce Node.JS and use it to build a simple chat server that we'll access with netcat/nc or telnet.

Node's primary use case is scalable network applications. All I/O, by default, is asynchronous; so it's able to handle a huge amount of connected clients, provided most of them are mostly quiet most of the time, so it's perfect for chat servers.

Let's all help each other get the latest version of Node.JS (7.10.0) installed.

If this is your first experience with Node, or you don't have a preferred method of installing it (there are many ways), head to https://nodejs.org and download the latest distribution for your OS. (There's an installer for Mac and Windows, and a tarball of binaries for Linux)

If you'd prefer not to install Node, but have Docker, you can use the provided Dockerfiles to run things. You can use the run-in-docker script for convenience.

Make sure you have one of netcat, nc, or telnet available at the command line.

• Start with a simple tcp server, connect and disconnect with nc
• Add Client class and keep track of connected clients
• Log client messages in server
• Broadcast client messages to all conected clients
  • Except the client that sent it
• Broadcast connect/disconnect messages

A nicer chatting interface than netcat. A starting point (including the UI) has been provided in client.js

An automated chat client with programmed responses. Add scripting support to the TUI client, or extract a client library and use it to make a headless client.

• Add slash commands
  • /me for third person / "action"
• Add channels
• Use Express to add an HTTP api to the chat server
  • Enable posting messages as a user
  • Enable searching messages