Server-side JavaScript

Server-side JavaScript (SSJS) refers to JavaScript that runs on the server-side. This term was coined because the language is predominantly used on the client-side, i.e. client-side JavaScript (CSJS).

The first implementation of SSJS was Netscape's LiveWire, included in their Enterprise Server 2.0 product, released in 1996.

Examples of current uses of JavaScript on the server side

Project/product name	JavaScript Engine	Server Platform(s)	Comments	Website
Xpages	IBM JS	Lotus Domino Server	Compiles Javascript to Java, which then runs in Domino context	[1]
10gen	10gen	10gen application server	Uses the Rhino parser. Compiles Javascript to Java.	[2]
Acre	Rhino	Jetty HTTP Server	Integrated with Freebase to power Freebaseapps.com, a collaborative hosting environment.
Apache Sling	Rhino	Any Java servlet container and standalone.	Sling is a generic Java web application framework that allows to use any script language via the standard Java Script Engine interface. Sling is RESTful by design and sits on top of a Java Content Repository, giving scripts full access to the JCR.	[3]
APE	SpiderMonkey	Standalone HTTP	Used to write custom server modules (manage message queue, users, channels, sockets, http, ...). [4]	[5]
AppJet	Rhino(modified)		Also provides hosting in a virtual machine
Aptana Jaxer	Mozilla + SpiderMonkey	Apache HTTP Server	An actively developed, community open source ajax-server based on the Mozilla browser (DOM + JavaScript engine) . HTML, JavaScript, and CSS are native to Jaxer, as are XMLHttpRequests, JSON, DOM scripting, etc. It offers access to databases, files, and networking, as well as logging, process management, scalability, security, integration APIs, and extensibility.	[6]
ASP	JScript	IIS
Axiom Stack	Rhino	Jetty HTTP Server	Actively developed open source SSJS server. JSON, E4X, List Comprehensions. Complete access to Java APIs. Built-in security. Lucene data store by default with JDBC access to relational databases.	[7]
Cocoon Flowscript	Rhino	Apache Cocoon		[8]
CouchDB	SpiderMonkey	Standalone HTTP	Used in MapReduce and update validation functions as well as to transform JSON documents and view results into HTML or other content-types.
DovetailDb	Rhino	Jetty HTTP Server	DovetailDB is a schemaless, JSON-based database with an Apache license. You can use the hosted database or install your own. You can override the handlers to supplement with access control, use map/reduce, install JavaScript stored procedures to call from the client, and more.	[9]
Eclipse e4	Rhino	Equinox OSGi, bundled with Jetty, any servlet container (using the servlet bridge)	Extensions can be written in JS, not just Java, especially servlets using the OSGi HTTP Service. Frontends can be developed with Eclipse RAP using the SWT and JFace APIs, or any other UI framework. Focus is on modularity (plug-ins), extensibility, scalability.	[10]
ESXX	Rhino	FastCGI, stand-alone HTTP, any Java servlet container, Google App Engine	Focus is on ease of use, web security and XML/XSLT (via Saxon). Has SQL, LDAP, HTTP/REST, SOAP and Java support. Can also execute JS scripts from the command line.	[11]
Ejscript	Ejscript	Appweb HTTP Server, Apache HTTP Server	Enhanced ECMA-262 Language and (Ruby on Rails like) web framework including Model/View/Controller paradigm, SQLite database connectivity, Ajax libraries and a suite of view controls. Includes command line generators and tools.	[12]
EditMe	Rhino	Hosted (Tomcat)	Wiki with embedded JavaScript engine and API for application development within the wiki	[13]
GLUEscript	SpiderMonkey	Apache HTTP Server, FastCGI and Stand-alone	Glueing Libraries Using Ecmascript (GLUE) ports sqlite, mysql, memcached, wxWidgets, ... to JavaScript. GLUEscript is the successor of wxJavaScript	[14]
GromJS	SpiderMonkey	Bauk, FastCGI and Stand-alone using gromjscli	GromJS Server-Side JavaScript interpreter includes support for files (open, read, write, lock, seek, truncate, etc.), MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQLite databases, session variables, hash arrays, pipes, HTTP file-upload, cookies and more.	[15]
Helma	Rhino	Jetty HTTP Server	Complete package with web server and framework.	[16]
Jack	Multiple	Multiple	A JavaScript engine and server-agnostic interface, much like Rack for Ruby and WSGI for Python.	[17]
jsext	SpiderMonkey	Apache HTTP Server, lighttpd and Stand-alone	Has modules for fastCGI, CGI, MySQL, SQLite, FTP, SMTP, HTTP, AJAX, JSON, SOAP, WSDL and more. Automatic inclusion of C libraries.	[18]
jslibs	SpiderMonkey	FastCGI and Stand-alone (TCP)	Native libraries bindings: NSPR, SQLite, FastCGI, libTomCrypt, librsvg, libpng, libjpeg, FreeType, libffi, ...	[19]
JSSP	Rhino	Any Java servlet container.	Contains a modified Rhino version for embedded SQL support	[20]
im-jssp	Rhino	Resin and any other Java servlet container.	"im-jssp" is a template engine that used Server Side JavaScript and HTML. And "im-jssp" has custom tag "jsspRpc" that is Server Side JavaScript can be called from Client Side JavaScript seamlessly.	[21] (Japanese)
Juice	SpiderMonkey	Stand-alone		[22]
Junction	Rhino	Apache HTTP Server	Ruby on Rails port to javascript	[23]
Livelink WCM Presentation Server	SpiderMonkey	Apache HTTP Server, IIS and Sun Java System Web Server	A commercial content management system used in a number of European public-sector and financial organizations. It uses SSJS for dynamic features and to customize the behavior of built-in objects. Though still developed and supported for existing users, this SSJS product is no longer available for sale to new customers.
mod js	SpiderMonkey	Apache HTTP Server	mod_js is a stand-alone module for Apache that is able to execute JavaScript on the server. Now discontinued.	[24]
Myna Javascript Application Server	Rhino	Any Java servlet container, packaged with winstone	Myna is a general purpose, 100% open source, web platform modeled after Cold Fusion with centralized datasources, Web-based Administration, runtime Object Relational Mapping, templating, LDAP access, strong cryptography, SOAP and XML-RPC publishing and more.	[25]
Narwhal	Rhino, JavaScriptCore, XULRunner, V8, others	Multiple	An implementation of the CommonJS standard for multiple JavaScript interpreters.	[26]
Node.js	V8	Standalone	Javascript asynchronous, Event-based I/O. Influenced by systems like Ruby's Event Machine or Python's Twisted. Few modules available (yet).	[27]
NOTEX	SpiderMonkey	CGI/FastCGI script on any web server	NOTEX is a CGI script to run JavaScript files hosted anywhere on the network to process XML data with E4X	[28]
OpenMocha	Helma	Stand-alone		[29]
Opera (web browser)	Futhark	Opera Unite	Javascript is the server-side language used to develop services for the Opera Unite feature of the Opera browser. This is a server built in to the browser. The javascript API includes local file access to a virtual sandboxed file-system and persistent storage via persistent global variables.	[30]
Persevere	Rhino	Jetty HTTP Server	JSON database integrated with JavaScript environment with a HTTP/REST, JSON-RPC, and Comet interfaces.	[31]
PyV8	V8	Standalone	Python Wrapper for Google V8 Javascript Engine which could be used in the web framework or script	[32]
Phobos	Rhino	Glassfish and any other Java servlet container.
POW	SpiderMonkey	Mozilla Firefox	A Mozilla Firefox Extension which adds a server to your browser. Templates can use SSJS.	[33]
Rhino in Spring	Rhino	Spring		[34]
Rhinola	Rhino	Apache HTTP Server	Uses gcj	[35]
Server Side Execution (SSX)	Rhino	Devwex	JSP/ASP-like scripting; supports threads, object (de)serialization, access to local and remote filesystems, database connection via jdbc; released under the GPL2 license	[36]
Server Side Javascript	Rhino	Jetty 6	For writing servlets.	[37]
Torino	Rhino	Tomcat and any other Java servlet container.	Server-side JavaScript environment for developing web applications. Provides a rich server-side programming environment using Java APIs. Released under the GPL3 license.	[38]
Whitebeam	SpiderMonkey	Apache HTTP Server	Server-side JavaScript environment for developing web applications. Includes integration with graphics libraries and the PostgreSQL database. Actively developed and in use supporting commercial sites. Released under the BSD license. Latest release supports E4X.	[39]
wxJavaScript	SpiderMonkey	Apache HTTP Server and Stand-alone	With E4X and wxWidgets ported classes. GLUEscript is the successor of wxJavaScript	[40]
v8cgi	V8	Apache, cgi, fcgi and Stand-alone	Libraries for GD, HTTP, MySQL, Sessions, Sockets and templating.	[41]
Google Apps Script			Automate simple tasks across Google Products	[42]
SSJS	SpiderMonkey	Synchronet BBS Integrated Http Server	Current developer trunk (3.15a) supports E4X	[43]
Wakanda	SquirrelFish Extreme	Wakanda Server	native JavaScript/REST structured storage database, XML/JSON representations, JSON-RPC, SSL, CommonJS interface, File service (Mozilla Bespin compatible), debugging protocol, client-side interface (WAF), YUI, ExtJS, & JQuery adapters...	[44]

Other common server-side programming languages are JSP, ASP, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby and ColdFusion amongst others.

Specifications

• Reference for Server-Side JavaScript 1.2
• Guide for Server-Side JavaScript 1.2
• CommonJS Specifications to unify SSJS APIs

See also

• JavaScript

External links

• The Server-Side JavaScript Google Group dedicated to creating cross-platform SSJS standard APIs.