From 40c64a37d73f690d0e73112f4120e03ed0af343a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jonathan Ong <jonathanrichardong@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 2013 00:31:01 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] docs: koa vs express draft

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+
+THIS DOCUMENT IS IN PROGRESS. THIS PARAGRAPH SHALL BE REMOVED WHEN THIS DOCUMENT IS DONE.
+
+TO DO:
+
+- Remove benchmark from readme
+
+# Koa vs Express
+
+## Does Koa replace Express?
+
+  It's more like Connect, but a lot of the Express goodies
+  were moved to the middleware level in Koa to help form
+  a stronger foundation. This makes middleware more enjoyable
+  and less error-prone to write, for the entire stack, not
+  just the end application code.
+
+  Typically many middleware would
+  re-implement similar features, or even worse incorrectly implement them,
+  when features like signed cookie secrets among others are typically application-specific,
+  not middleware specific.
+
+## Does Koa replace Connect?
+
+  No, just a different take on similar functionality
+  now that generators allow us to write code with less
+  callbacks. Connect is equally capable, and some may still prefer it,
+  it's up to what you prefer.
+
+## Why isn't Koa just Express 4.0?
+
+  Koa is a pretty large departure from what people know about Express,
+  the design is fundamentally much different, so the migration from
+  Express 3.0 to this Express 4.0 would effectively mean rewriting
+  the entire application, so we thought it would be more appropriate
+  to create a new library.
+
+## Is Koa faster than Express?
+
+  To our amazement, yes, but only if you use [`yield *next`](http://wiki.ecmascript.org/doku.php?id=harmony%3agenerators#delegating_yield). We do not provide examples of using delegated yields as we find it confusing as well as unnecessary for most people. Here are Koa's benchmarks when using delegated yields:
+
+```
+  1 middleware
+  8849.36
+
+  5 middleware
+  8685.74
+
+  10 middleware
+  8511.08
+
+  15 middleware
+  8456.86
+
+  20 middleware
+  8211.93
+
+  30 middleware
+  8102.98
+
+  50 middleware
+  7617.67
+
+  100 middleware
+  6899.45
+```
+
+  Here are the benchmarks for Express:
+
+```
+  1 middleware
+  7805.19
+
+  5 middleware
+  7707.15
+
+  10 middleware
+  7475.08
+
+  15 middleware
+  7261.73
+
+  20 middleware
+  7012.07
+
+  30 middleware
+  6672.76
+
+  50 middleware
+  6255.92
+
+  100 middleware
+  5000.98
+```
+
+  Also note that Express uses many more middleware than Koa, so these benchmarks are largely in Koa's favor.
+
+## How is Koa different than Connect/Express?
+
+### Generated-based control flow
+
+  Thanks to co.
+
+  No callback hell.
+
+  Better error handling through try/catch.
+
+  No need for domains.
+
+### Koa is barebone
+
+  Unlike both Connect and Express, Koa does not include any middleware.
+
+  Unlike Express, routing is not provided.
+
+  Unlike Express, many convenience utilities are not provided. For example, sending files.
+
+  More modular.
+
+### Koa relies less middleware
+
+  For example, instead of a "body parsing" middleware, you would instead use a body parsing function.
+
+### Koa abstracts node's request/response
+
+  Less hackery.
+
+  Proper stream handling.