title: Node.js chat without Socket.IO
body: <p>I just started learning Node.js and as I was learning about the <code>fs.watchFile()</code> method, I was wondering if a chat website could be efficiently built with it (and <code>fs.writeFile()</code>), against for example Socket.IO which is stable, but I believe not 100% stable (several fallbacks, including flash).</p>
  
  <p>Using <code>fs.watchFile</code> could perhaps also be used to keep histories of the chats quite simply (as JSON would be used on the spot).</p>
  
  <p>The chat files could be formatted in JSON in such a way that only the last chatter's message is brought up to the DOM (or whatever to make it efficient to 'fetch' messages when the file gets updated).</p>
  
  <p>I haven't tried it yet as I still need to learn more about Node, and even more to be able to compare it with Socket.IO, but what's your opinion about it? Could it be an efficient/stable way of doing chats?</p>