NodeJ is a node.js compatible framework, running on the JVM and powered by the DynJS Javascript runtime. "Why do that?", you may ask. Well, imagine running your node app on the JVM where you immediately have access to all that the Java world has to provide - directly from Javascript. With this approach, extending node doesn't require C++ addons. You've got the entire Java ecosystem at your disposal instead. And since DynJS is cross-language compatible, why not throw in a little JRuby or Clojure with your app if you want. It's all available on the JVM. Neat, right? We thought so, and thus we decided to try and make it happen.
Be prepared to get your hands dirty. NodeJ is still a work in progress and it's evolving daily. But for now, if you want to run it, you need to be willing to build it from source. And to do that, you'll need to build vert.x from source. But for now, because you asked....
$ git clone https://github.com/vert-x/vert.x.git
$ cd vert.x
$ ./gradlew collectDeps
$ ./gradelew distTar
This will put the complete vert.x installation in
build/vert.x-2.0.0-SNAPSHOT. Just update your $PATH to include
/path/to/repo/vert.x/build/vert.x-2.0.0-SNAPSHOT/bin.
Then, you'll need to build nodej.
$ git clone https://github.com/projectodd/nodej.git
$ cd nodej
$ mvn install
By default, vert.x runs Javascript with Rhino. Change this to use lang-dynjs
and nodej by creating a langs.properties file at the root of your project
that looks like this.
nodejs=org.projectodd~nodej~0.1.1-SNAPSHOT:org.projectodd.nodej.NodeJSVerticleFactory
.js=nodejs
Now you should be able to run nodej through vert.x like so.
$ vertx run someFile.js