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You can use ClojureScript, Elm, TypeScript, or a myriad of other compile-to-JS languages on the frontend. You can use anything on the backend, but React server-side rendering only runs on Node.js AFAIK.

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but React server-side rendering only runs on Node.js AFAIK.

There are a few solutions for Ruby, PHP and Python although I have no experience with them and how well they perform/work.

Unless it's some real magic (please share if it is), I believe the best they can do is either spawn a node process from Ruby/PHP/Python, or use embedded v8 or similar interpreter. Which is not any different from running node "the normal way".

React is implemented in JS and uses JS to declare components, and it would be fun if there is some working JS-to-Python (-to-PHP/-to-Ruby) translator that is good enough to translate React code to run "natively".

Oh yeah you're absolutely right of course. Not saying it doesn't run V8 or some kind of interpreter in the background (I actually have no idea how they work), just think that's abstracted away and I don't think there's any JavaScript setting up required from the developer.

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