I've been reading about Node.js hoping to expand my web development skills. Now I don't quite understand how it would fit my projects. Is it used for developing entire web applications? Because I sense this hype everywhere about it. Someone asks what framework should he use and people go: hey use node.js!
But, if I need to handle transactions and business logic, is that done in node.js? Or is it for a very narrow set of use cases where I should use say Java EE or .NET and node.js for only certain things?
If I want to build a html5, CSS3, backbone.js, RESTful webapp, can I use node.js to serve a rest endpoint? How are objects mapped to RDB queries? Is there any javascript ORM?
Please excuse my ignorance, I could see how someone would want to close this question, but I humbly want to understand how is it used and when would I use it.
Yes you can, but most people are not doing it that way. Most people building node-powered websites are using the express framework with a nosql db (but you can use whatever db you want). Node is designed to be very lowlevel, so if you build you website with only the native api, you will most likely end up building your own mini framework. That's why express is a good choice.
You can use the ORM npmjs.org/package/rdb . Postgres only (so far) It has transaction /commit / rollback. Bases on promises