node.js in production use: tempalias.com

In order to find out whether node.js is ready for production use and to scratch an itch, tempalias.com was started as a fun project.

The service allows anybody to create a temporary email alias with a limited validity (either time- oder usage based). Mail sent to that alias within the validity constraints is then forwarded to any address of your choice.

The talk gives a behind-the-scenes look on how the (free software) project was built and how its architecture works. On the process, we'll learn how to build a web application without dynamically generating a single byte of HTML on the server side, how SMTP works, and how to implement a bookmarklet without destroying arbitrary target pages. And we'll learn how to design a daemon in a way sure to bring your server down under load :-)

The whole service reeks of JavaScript all over: Webserver? Javascript. SMTP-Server? Javascript. Web-Application? Javascript (and a bit of HTML).

Aside of the technical issues, we'll also have a look at how to be a good citizen in the open source community by providing upstream with usable and easily applied patches. And as it's the case with all cool free services, we'll learn how to deal with Spammers.