Nozus: Changing the API to Node JS and Sails

So after futzing around with ASP.Net 5/MVC 6 for a bit and becoming frustrated with attempting to implement token based auth, I decide to switch over to Node JS using Sails as an alternative for my API.

Why Sails?  I took a look at it a few months back and was impressed with the easy setup and Waterline ORM. I then had a recent job opportunity where the client was using Sails.  I passed on the opportunity but decided to review Sails again. The combination of convention with easy overrides is super productive and flexible.  Additionally, the documentation is well done for an OSS framework.

I look forward to the eventual rollout of ASP.Net 5, but it’s still under heavy dev and what works one day doesn’t on the next pull.  This is totally understandable but I’m ready to move along and get something working.  I’m already biting off a fair amount of learnin’ by attempting Node and Aurelia.  So without further ado, I’ve added the following growing list of articles on setting up Nozus in node, including examples in GitHub.

Nozus JS Preface: Sails with Passport and JWT – Ermahgerd!

Nozus JS 1: Intro to Sails with Passport and JWT (JSON Web Token) Auth

So many cool tools, which way to go…

I was beginning to work on a new exploratory project where I wanted to get a little deeper into some technologies that I don’t get to use every day at work. I’ve got a plan to build a cloud-based web site that does a few things.  So the choices were Angular or Aurelia on the front end and Node or ASP.Net 5/MVC 6 on the back end.

I’ve been doing various Node and Angular exercises and tutorials for the past year or so and have also been excited about the release of ASP.Net 5 and what it promises.  Although I’ve been put off by the recent Node schism, I’m fully confident that either a reconciliation will take place or IO.js will run away with the ball.  And the Node/IO community is so incredibly vibrant right now.  It seems like there’s a package for anything/everything. You can literally see the energy coming off of that system. Recently, I’ve also been impressed by the Aurelia project and it’s embrace of ES 6 and other emerging and established standards.  Aurelia will probably be a niche player in the SPA market when compared to Angular/React/Ember etc…, but it’s a really cool and looks well put together, so why not try it out.

But as cool as Node is, there are things that I’ll miss terribly in the .Net ecosystem like LINQ and (a hopefully more performant) EF and truly awesome productivity tools in VS and R# as well as all of my previous experience. I also want to support .Net’s move into OSS and embrace/trust its own community.  Already the source code out on GitHub has been an incredible help to me.  I think that’s already paying off.

I’ve decide to stick to my .Net roots and try out Asp.Net 5/MVC 6 as an API on the backend, trying to learn it while it’s still relatively new and attempt Aurelia on the front end with help from Bootstrap.  We’ll see how it works out…