What risks do I have to consider when encrypting server side as opposed to client-side?

What are the risks using server-side JS in a production environment right now?

• IMO it would be risky to start a new project based on ss-JS currently. There are not so many developers around that know it and when one leaves for a cooler opportunity you are left with the pieces. In addition hiring more developers would be difficult. Would it be smarter to start with an established framework? Are the advantages of ss-JS so big that it is worth taking the risk?

• Answer:

  I'd say it depends on whether or not you have a lot of client-side interactivity, and what your team leans to. Sooner or later you have to debug and optimize your browser-side Javascript (even if you're using something like GWT), so you will need to have expertise in it. If you begin with a user-centric development model, there's a strong argument for pushing that expertise backwards towards the server rather than maintaining a bilingual development environment. The V8 and Rhino Javascript interpreters are both performance-competitive with other server-side scripting languages such as Python or PHP and Rhino has a built-in bridge to libraries written in Java should you need higher runtime performance or some exotic link to a legacy system.