Node.js in Open Source projects on Github : A literature study and exploratory case study

Abstract: This study has been performed with an aim to provide an insight into how Node.js is used and the Node.js technology adaptation in the open source community. This research displays the diversity of Node.js and can inspire the reader to further development or continued research. Studies into different usages of Node.js have been missing in academic research and therefore this study gives a new, important insight into this technology. The authors used the exploratory case study methodology. For data collection, the authors created a JQuery and HTML script that fetched the desired dataset from Github and that were used as a static base for the study. Based on the usage areas extracted from the literature study, the authors specified different categories of usage. The dataset was manually investigated and placed into the categories, if they were relevant. The results show that web applications is by far the most well represented category with over 50% of all usages falling into this category. Network applications and Web servers come in at second and third position with 14% and 13% respectively. This study provided further categories and the authors could generate a set of diagrams, showing a trend on how the different usage areas changed from 2010 to 2015.