chat application: node.js or APE?

Question

I want to create a chat app which would use php/codeigniter to do the views and user interface. I've been reading lots of posts on stackoverflow which recommended node.js or socket.io. Yet I've also run across APE(Ajax Push Engine). I don't really know much about either and was wondering which to use.

I read up on node.js and saw lots of good things about it, but the major thing about it that worries me is that it's relatively new and doesn't have lots of real world websites testing/using it.

On the other hand, APE does. And it looks similar to node.js. But like I said, I don't know enough about either to know which one to choose.

Which one is better at creating a chat app?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Like you, I'm not familiar with APE, however socket.io on node.js comes with a chat app as it's main example app.

True, there aren't a lot of sites using Node.js right now. Socket.io, however, is probably considered Node's 'Killer App', and thus has relatively a lot of talk/work done with it.

I'm presuming APE has stable APIs, though, which socket.io might not necessarily have - The 0.7 version was a pretty broad, API-changing update, for example. This might happen less often with the publication of the socket.io spec.

Answer 2

I played a little bit with node.js, tried out socket.io - but in the end did a big project with APE.

I think, as always, there is the question of what you want to achieve. Only comparing the server parts: With node.js you get a machine that won't do anything on it's own, you need to write it yourself (or use libraries) With APE, the handling of channels and connections is already built in (compiled C). Still you need to build parts of your own logic on top with JS - or use the examples.

On the client side, socket.io provides a client framework with three commands - and APE has it's APE_JSF that handles the connections (which brings more functionality than socket.io regarding channels)

Personally, I prefer APE, even though there is a lack of documentation for beginners. However, keep in mind that APE won't deliver files/images, it's not a full Web-Server but optimized for real time push where it can handle ~10K concurrent users