doc: add technical values document

[mhdawson]

As part of the next-10 we found
we needed to capture the project's technical values/priorities as
a starting point before discussing key technologies/areas for the
next 10 years of Node.js

This is a first cut that the team put together. The discussion
took place in a few meetings as well as this
PR. We believe the doc
should live in the core node repository as it is intended to
reflect the agreement of the collaborator base.

I think this is a good starting point but we also
acknowledge that only a small subset of the Node.js collaborators
have participated/commented so far. This PR should be a good
way to get additional review/input from the larger set
of Node.js collaborators.

Signed-off-by: Michael Dawson mdawson@devrus.com

Checklist

• make -j4 test (UNIX), or vcbuild test (Windows) passes
• documentation is changed or added
• commit message follows commit guidelines

[gittysachin]

Would be great to have the technical values/prioritization document before the key discussion about new technology implementation or any area of future Node.js

[mhdawson]

@gittysachin that was what we ended up thinking based on the discussion in the next-10 team and what led to the creation of this initial version of that.

[mmarchini]

this feels like one of those times where @nodejs/collaborators is appropriate

[Trott]

I think we should be exceptionally stingy with the root-level all-caps file and would prefer this go in doc/guides/technical-values.md or similar.

[mhdawson]

@Trott I think I'm ok with it being in guides since it does have a visible path through the README.md

[GeoffreyBooth]

Two thoughts:

1. What is “API currency”?

2. I see and appreciate the reference to Web APIs. I’m not sure if we need to say anything more, but I think perhaps the biggest driver of Node’s popularity has been the fact that it’s a JavaScript runtime and there’s tremendous value in having code that can run in both browsers and on the server, or at least that apps can share the same language between client and server. I think maintaining compatibility with the browser environments as much as possible is an important technical value to maintain.

[mhdawson]

@GeoffreyBooth updated to use clearer wording for "currency",

In terms of:

I see and appreciate the reference to Web APIs. I’m not sure if we need to say anything more, but I think perhaps the biggest driver of Node’s popularity has been the fact that it’s a JavaScript runtime and there’s tremendous value in having code that can run in both browsers and on the server, or at least that apps can share the same language between client and server. I think maintaining compatibility with the browser environments as much as possible is an important technical value to maintain.

I think we discussed that in the next-10 meetings and stopped short of mentioning that specifically. Since you mentioned as "thoughts" as opposed to an objection I'm going to land the current text and maybe you can PR in a suggested addition that covers that and we can use the PR to discuss.

[mhdawson]

As doc only I guess I did not need to request the CI, linters seem to have complete so I think I'm good to land.

[nodejs-github-bot]

CI: https://ci.nodejs.org/job/node-test-pull-request/33157/

[mhdawson]

Landed in fe293e9

Going to leave open until we hear back with @GeoffreyBooth that he's ok with my suggested approach to his comment on browser compatibility in case I need to take some other action.

[GeoffreyBooth]

Landed in fe293e9

Going to leave open until we hear back with @GeoffreyBooth that he’s ok with my suggested approach to his comment on browser compatibility in case I need to take some other action.

Yes, it’s not an objection, just a suggestion. Was there a reason it was left out when you discussed it in those meetings?

[mhdawson]

@GeoffreyBooth If I remember correctly it came down being related to your comment I’m not sure if we need to say anything more and that there is not necessarily agreement across the project that compatibility with the browser environments is always the right path so we just left it at what was there.

[mhdawson]

Going to close, @GeoffreyBooth just let me know if I should do anything else to follow up on your comments.