what type of apps can be built using node.js rather than real time app

Is node.js is only for realtime apps like chat or multiplayer games. I know little bit of PHP, Python and ASP.

But I love JS the most. But I am interested in building perticual type of application such as-

  • Content based app (like CMS, forums or community sites)

  • Utility tools (web2pdf converter, image editing or other frequently used tools)

  • Business tools (SEO analysis tools etc)

Is node.js only for realtime apps??

Edit 0- Can you please give examples of node apps other than realtime apps

Edit 1 : can node be used for IO operations or serve static pages over http. Isn't it just another web technology like PHP or ASP.NET

Edit 2 : What can node do that PHP can't. Also anything that PHP can and Node can't.

Node.js is useful for any application that does not involve CPU-bound work.

Node.js is basically just javascript, including the asynchronous aspect of javascript, running outside of the browser. The basic framework it comes with allows you to setup a server really easily, and that's what most people use it for, although it can do most things any other server side language can do (File IO, Networking, Multithreading, etc).

Node.js can be used for most applications, as it's expandable via modules, and has a great developer community. You can see the different companies who use it at http://nodejs.org/industry/.

Some great tutorials can be found by Googling node + the type of project you want to build and you can also find a list of resources in the Readme of their github https://github.com/joyent/node. After you feel comfortable with node, then browse some github node.js repositories, and figure out which modules you want to work with to make your project. Then keep learning!

Javascript is a great language, and node.js is an awesome technology. Good luck!

Node.js is farmost, one of the best technology of its kind. You can build anything out of Node.js, scaling from realtime applications to normal websites. But what makes Node.js standalone from crowd, is its way of handling users request and response. In simple term Node.js come into play when there is lods and lods of traffic coming into your website.