Where does the Javascript run, anyway?

• Name : C J Silverio
• Twitter : @ceejbot
• Github : ceejbot
• Website : ceejbot.tumblr.com

Abstract

This summer at JSConf they had a one-day workshop on robots, and then the very same day a nodetank shot a nodecopter out of the air. War has been declared, and you need to take a side. If you can write Javascript, you can command your own nodebot infantry or nodecopter squadron or nodeboat flotilla.

You're convinced, of course. You need your own robot army. But where do you start? Where does the Javascript run, anyway?

It's not trivial. It's easy, though, and not too expensive. Let me walk you through the basics and show you what you can do with a few hundred lines of Javascript. After the next half hour, you'll know how the node- gets glued to the -bot, how to use Javascript to make a robot roll forward, a quadcopter take off, or a rubber band sproing into the air.

You'll know where the Javascript runs and why it's so good for controlling hardware. Most importantly, you'll have everything you need for victory in the Javascript robot apocalypse.

Speaker Bio

Ceej wrote her first computer program in pen in a spiral bound notebook because the Apple ][+ hadn't arrived yet. It was a D&D character generator in BASIC. Currently she writes javascript in node.js for a stealth startup while hacking on javascript quadcopter drivers for fun.