how to run node.js interactively in Emacs on Windows

Question

I thought this would work:

(defun my-node ()
  (interactive)
  (pop-to-buffer (make-comint "my-node" "node")))

But when I do M-x my-node and enter 1+1 in the comint buffer, it does not display any output.

This is in Emacs 24.0.50.1 on Windows 7 and NodeJS is installed without any special configuration.

Calling node.js non-interactively as in M-x compile RET node hello-world.js RET works fine. Running node interactively in cmd works fine.

This might be related: when I run M-x shell and enter node in the shell buffer and then enter 1+1, it doesn't display the result. I must be missing something very basic.

Update:

Probably related: emacs/Python: running python-shell in line buffered vs. block buffered mode - Stack Overflow

Answer 1

The simplest way to have node.js (tested using node v0.8.1) as an inferior shell under Emacs is to use the js-comint package. Then, set (setq inferior-js-program-command "node --interactive") to force node to run in interactive mode. The command M-x run-js will then open the interpreter.

Similarly, you can easily verify that node --interactive works within an eshell.