why is javascript node.js not on google app engine

Question

Google created the V8 JavaScript engine: V8 compiles JavaScript source code directly into machine code when it is first executed.

Node.js is built on V8 - why is Goo

Answer 1

Background: App Engine Standard vs App Engine Flexible

There seems to be some confusion on this topic because there are two versions of App Engine: Standard and Flexible. NodeJS is supported on App Engine Flexible but NOT on App Engine Standard. (See here for a more complete explanation of the differences).

App Engine Standard scales in seconds (as opposed to minutes for the Flexible environment), and has a free tier, so you can develop and demo without spending a dime. These benefits come at the cost of flexibility. App Engine Standard only supports certain languages and libraries, doesn't allow writing to disk nor SSH. In other words, the environment is standardized.

Answer: NodeJS Support on App Engine Standard

If you are interested in NodeJS support on App Engine Standard, please star this issue: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/67711509.

Google addresses features that get attention from the community (see here). The best way to give your attention to this feature, is to star it on the Google Issue tracker linked to above.

Answer 2

Google announced on March, 21st 2016 that Node.js on Google App Engine was going beta: https://cloudplatform.googleblog.com/2016/03/Node.js-on-Google-App-Engine-goes-beta.html?m=1

This was expected as Google also joined the Node.js Foundation and Google develops the V8 JavaScript engine which powers Chrome and Node.js: https://nodejs.org/en/blog/announcements/welcome-google/

Google announced a partnership with NodeSource at the same time.

Answer 3

You can easily install node on Google Compute Engine (which basically is a virtual computer). Here is a link: https://developers.google.com/datastore/docs/getstarted/start_nodejs/

Regards Lars

Answer 4

Node.js is maintained by Joyent, who is in a way a competitor of Google.

Node.js has no link what so ever with Google but is in fact built on top of an open source project started by Google.

Google might jumped into this business just like Azure did, but there are already so many PaaS doing it, it might not be worth it. I have never used GAE, but my understanding is that it is quite different that other PaaS and you have to use GAE libraries to make your code run.

Which, this is my personal feeling, is not really what the Node.js community is looking for. Node.js is used to quickly make a fast lightweight app, a big share for APIs for Phone apps for example.

Nevertheless if you are looking for a PaaS for Node.js, the are quite a few out there:

• Joyent (nodejitsu)
• dotCloud which has WebSockets support.
• Windows Azure
• Nodester (bought by App Fog recently)
• Any Cloud Foundry host should support Node.js too.
• and many more...

Those are just some names off the top of my head. There quite a few but those are the major ones. Oh there is Heroku too, but they don't have support for WebSocket which is a bummer for any Socket.IO based app.

Answer 5

Node.js has recently enabled support for Google Cloud users. The main document pages are:

• Node.js on Google Cloud Platform
• Google Cloud Datastore — Google Developers

It seems to require at the moment a Compute Engine instance.

Answer 6

Google has just announced support for Node.js on App Engine.

See: https://cloud.google.com/nodejs/

Here's an example of how to deploy Node.js app on App Engine.