I started programming at a very young age, when I was twelve. My first programming language was Basic. I wrote a program that would generate random calculation problems in different categories (under 10, under 100). If the answer given by the user was incorrect, a picture based on 10 x 10 squares would show the correct answer visually.
It was actually used by a remedial teacher (my mom 😉) on our home computer.
Since then I learned a language comparable to Pascal, I used LISP in university, took classes in C, C++, MFC, Visual Basic and Java.
The next software I wrote was after I graduated, for a marketing department. They showed calculations of how much water a water closet or shower would use in different languages. I wrote it in Visual Basic. That was the first time I learned about the hassle of versions in real life.
The program ran fine on my Windows machine (I think it was Windows 95). But on the sales persons machine it would not print. The library was incompatible with my compiled code. I was in 'DLL hell' 😱 as my professor used to call it.
I stayed away from procedural language and decided to focus on Java and JEE. I loved it! No issues with native libraries, object orientation to structure your code, automated builds, test frameworks etc etc.
Of course, I was involved in multiple projects. Some projects would support Java version 1.4 others 1.5 etc. First I started having different versions on my machine and updating environment variables, but quickly I would need application servers etc as well, so I started creating Virtual Images for Virtual Box and have different versions of the JDK and application versions there.At least I had no issues with native libraries, like I remembered from Visual Basic! It was not ideal, but I managed and felt in control.
Today we are doing more and more projects in the (Oracle) Cloud. We are doing projects in Oracle SOA CS, Oracle Integration Cloud Service, Oracle API Platform Cloud Service and Oracle Mobile Cloud Service.
Oracle Mobile Cloud Service is expecting node.js code for the mobile backend functions that you write. This meant I had to learn JavaScript. Not everything was easy from the start: The asynchronous nature of Node was something I definitely had to get used to. asynch/await to the rescue ;)
The beauty: no more application servers, no more multiple VMs for different versions: just code! So far so good. :)
Then, we moved to a different version of the cloud service and upgraded our node version to version 8.11.3. and happily start using the new version. I think right now we are on version 11. Of course this does not have a happy end: a week ago I started investigating Oracle BlockChain Cloud Service. It expects node version 6 😰. And now I am back in version hell: node.js uses specific native libraries under the covers, that of course are not the same between the different versions. I need to be able to switch between versions. Some projects expect the paths to be pointing to the right versions and of course constructs like await are not supported, so running my code in Netbeans becomes complicated...
It was actually used by a remedial teacher (my mom 😉) on our home computer.
Since then I learned a language comparable to Pascal, I used LISP in university, took classes in C, C++, MFC, Visual Basic and Java.
The next software I wrote was after I graduated, for a marketing department. They showed calculations of how much water a water closet or shower would use in different languages. I wrote it in Visual Basic. That was the first time I learned about the hassle of versions in real life.
The program ran fine on my Windows machine (I think it was Windows 95). But on the sales persons machine it would not print. The library was incompatible with my compiled code. I was in 'DLL hell' 😱 as my professor used to call it.
I stayed away from procedural language and decided to focus on Java and JEE. I loved it! No issues with native libraries, object orientation to structure your code, automated builds, test frameworks etc etc.
Of course, I was involved in multiple projects. Some projects would support Java version 1.4 others 1.5 etc. First I started having different versions on my machine and updating environment variables, but quickly I would need application servers etc as well, so I started creating Virtual Images for Virtual Box and have different versions of the JDK and application versions there.At least I had no issues with native libraries, like I remembered from Visual Basic! It was not ideal, but I managed and felt in control.
Today we are doing more and more projects in the (Oracle) Cloud. We are doing projects in Oracle SOA CS, Oracle Integration Cloud Service, Oracle API Platform Cloud Service and Oracle Mobile Cloud Service.
Oracle Mobile Cloud Service is expecting node.js code for the mobile backend functions that you write. This meant I had to learn JavaScript. Not everything was easy from the start: The asynchronous nature of Node was something I definitely had to get used to. asynch/await to the rescue ;)
The beauty: no more application servers, no more multiple VMs for different versions: just code! So far so good. :)
Then, we moved to a different version of the cloud service and upgraded our node version to version 8.11.3. and happily start using the new version. I think right now we are on version 11. Of course this does not have a happy end: a week ago I started investigating Oracle BlockChain Cloud Service. It expects node version 6 😰. And now I am back in version hell: node.js uses specific native libraries under the covers, that of course are not the same between the different versions. I need to be able to switch between versions. Some projects expect the paths to be pointing to the right versions and of course constructs like await are not supported, so running my code in Netbeans becomes complicated...
nvm-win to the rescue
I was considering creating images for Virtual Box again (also because I still like bash better than windows Powershell), but I decided to research the topic a little bit. I stumbled upon this project: nvm-windows
It look really good: I can switch versions without having to fiddle around with the path or environments myself, it is all managed by this package that is written in go (another language I might want to learn, but one thing at the time ;) )
Here is how to install it on Windows:
- Uninstall node from your local machine. Remove all folders related to it C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roamding\npm and C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roamding\npm-cache
- Download nvm-setup.zip
- Unzip it
- Run nvm-setup and accept the defaults
- Open a new Powershell window and type nvm
- It will show the version (1.1.7 in my case)
- Install the versions of node you need. In my case
- nvm install 6
- nvm install 8
- nvm install latest
You can now list your versions, and use the one you would like to use by typing
- nvm list
- nvm use 6.15.1
I am not sure I love Node.js and javascript as much (yet) as I love Java, but it might happen in the future ....
Any comments and pointers on how you deal with versions of node are much appreciated, please feel free to comment on this blog or tweet them!
Happy coding 😏
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