Writing Non-blocking Code for Interaction With Data Systems and Web Services in Node.js and Perl

Non-blocking or event-driven programming is in high fashion today. Using non-blocking technology, it’s possible to write single-threaded daemons that serve high concurrency workloads and interact with slow backend/external systems (e.g., databases and webservices).

Javascript (i.e., node.js) is a popular language to write code for this, but many people don’t realize you can do the same thing in good old Perl.

This talk will cover some of the basics of non-blocking programming in high-level languages (JS and Perl), including an overview of how it works, Perl and JS modules that make it possible or more accessible, some paradigms you need to wrap your mind around to write successful event-driven programs, and some tips and tricks for debugging. Examples will be given of how to interact with both web services and MySQL from JS and Perl using non-blocking libraries.

This talk will be targeted towards beginner/intermediate programmers who want a high-level overview about how to get started with non-blocking programming.