I know I'm late to this, but maybe still early enough to have fun. This question, "What are the benefits of developing in node.js versus Python?", on Quora sent me off on a reading spree last night. Some of those links:
My excitement, of course, goes back to the Newton and it's wonderful NewtonScript development environment. NewtonScript was one of the first follow-ons to the Self language (evolving Smalltalk) to take advantage of "instance-based object inheritance" (prototypes) that javascript has now popularized. Great stuff, man. :)
I'm definitely excited to poke around in server-side javascript and a more async.-model programming style as well as seeing how the proto-inheritance idea would change system models in design. Fun stuff.