Node.js + Github + Cloud9 + Heroku = Awesome

I don't know if there is much more to say than that. We have been performing research at work around performance and scaling for one of our applications with ridiculous quantities of data and alongside investigations of different nosql solutions came some interest in node.js.

I've obviously had a Github account forever, and certainly used Heroku before, but when a colleague arrived at work one day raving about Cloud 9, a web-based IDE, it felt like I had discovered the missing link.

Cloud 9 lets you check out git repositories, write code, run processes and access the terminal in your own persistent development environment. Along with Github and Heroku, I now have access to a completely cloud-based development environment. There is something ridiculously attractive about that.

To be clear, Cloud 9 isn't perfect. Over the course of a day I need to restart my session several times. And latency on your keystrokes is present and a persistent, minor annoyance. But I keep using it (having such excellent node.js support is a major plus).

Try it if you haven't already. Cloud 9 has a charging strategy like Github - you pay for privacy but open use is free.