One Week in the Life of Node.js

class: center, middle

# One Week in the Life of Node.js

---

# Who is this person?

- Anna Henningsen
- Node.js TSC
- Node core contributor since December 2015
- (Master’s degree in Math)

---

name: how-did-i

# How did I get into Node core?

```js
setTimeout(1000, 1000, function() { console.log('hi!'); });
```

---
template: how-did-i

(don’t ask me why)

```
> TypeError: callback.call is not a function
    at ontimeout [as _onTimeout] (timers.js:195:34)
    at Timer.listOnTimeout (timers.js:92:15)
```

---
template: how-did-i

```diff
@@ -177,6 +177,10 @@ exports.enroll = function(item, msecs) {

exports.setTimeout = function(callback, after) {
+  if (typeof callback !== 'function') {
+    throw new TypeError('"callback" argument must be a function');
+  }
+
   after *= 1; // coalesce to number or NaN

if (!(after >= 1 && after <= TIMEOUT_MAX)) {
```

---

# Why am I talking about this?

- I didn’t know much about what was happening inside Node.js
- A lot of people in the community don’t

--
- There’s a hidden world here

---

# Is this a bad thing?

- It’s good:
  - Node.js is stable
  - Node.js works as an abstraction

--
- It’s bad:
  - Core maintainers need empathy with developer community
  - Everyone should be able to have a voice
  - “Knowledge Silo”

---

# What happens under https://github.com/nodejs?

- A lot of things
- “all technical development within the Node.js Foundation”
- Big stuff:
  - ChakraCore, N-API

--
  - Many individual issues/PRs
    - ESM (200+ comments)
    - Async Stack Traces for the inspector (170+ comments)
    - HTTP2 (150+ comments)

---

# Less big stuff

- V8 updates
- Smaller features (`dlopen` flags: 170+ comments!)
- `util.inspect` performance
- Promise support in N-API

---

# Out of scope for this talk

(but still there)

- Internationalization working groups
- Adjacent projects (http parser lib, llnode, node-report, node-gyp)

---

# In the last 90 days: Over 37.000 mails!

---

# Smaller repos

- N-API C++ Wrapper, Admin, Board, Code + Learn, Docs, Security (WG), …
- Stalling/Stalled efforts: Installer, Intl WG, …

---

# nodejs/node

What do we talk about?

- Small bugs (usually really odd edge cases)
- Small optimizations
- CI trouble
- Platform support
- Test improvements
- Many small help requests
- Security issues
- Release proposals
- (LTS) Backports
- Long term projects: async_hooks, fixing vm global, errors

---

# Top labels by comment count

(excluding release management – all time)

---

# Who has a voice?

(last 90 days)

---

# What can we do better?

- Amount of notifications is overwhelming
  - → Notification teams help!
- Let’s talk even more about what we’re doing
- …