Why does node.js need python

Question

I am starting up with node This is from node.js README.md

Prerequisites (Unix only):

* GCC 4.2 or newer
* Python 2.6 or 2.7
* GNU Make 3.81 or newer
* libexecinfo (FreeBSD and OpenBSD only)

Curious to know why does node.js need Python ? Does it use Python underneath its API

github.com/joyent/node/wiki/Installation "python 2.6 or 2.7. The build tools distributed with Node run on python." — M4rtini
– M4rtini, Commented May 17, 2014 at 9:32

vkurchatkin · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-17 10:50:28Z

41

Node.js is built with GYP — cross-platform built tool written in Python. Also some other build steps are implemented in Python. So Python is required for building node from source.

But you also need Python for building native addons.

edited May 17, 2014 at 10:50

answered May 17, 2014 at 10:14

vkurchatkin

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3 Comments

Brandon Ros Over a year ago

has there ever been a conversation on converting the node.js depending on python through gyp to something native (like node,js itself)?

Marcus Over a year ago

@BrandonRos, here is one from 2015-2017, though I wish I knew of a more recent one: github.com/nodejs/NG/issues/24

Marcus Over a year ago

@BrandonRos here are a couple more: github.com/nodejs/node-gyp/issues/1791 github.com/nodejs/TSC/issues/648

Icarus · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-17 09:34:46Z

3

Yes, node uses some python scripts under the hood, though Node is largely written in C++.

See some of Node's python code here:

https://github.com/joyent/node/tree/master/tools

E.g., js2c.py converts Javascript into C-style char arrays:

https://github.com/joyent/node/blob/master/tools/js2c.py

In general, if a package tells you that it requires Python, then it is almost certainly using Python ;)

answered May 17, 2014 at 9:34

Icarus

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2 Comments

binithb Over a year ago

It sure is using Python :) . But is Python used just during installation or during the run time of node scripts as well ? If the latter will it affect the performance in those cases

Icarus Over a year ago

Python is not used at runtime.

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