Helpful for using Node as a local server for Backbone. Very crude, could likely be far more elegant.

node_backbone_dev_server.js

var express = require('express');
var app = express();

app.get('*', function(req, res) {
  var staticTopLevelFolders = [
    'assets',
    'app'
  ]
  var requestedTopLevelFolder = (req._parsedUrl.pathname).split('/')[1];

  if (staticTopLevelFolders.indexOf(requestedTopLevelFolder) !== -1) {
    res.sendfile('.' + req._parsedUrl.pathname);
  } else {
    res.sendfile('index.html');
  }
});

app.listen(8080);
console.log('listening on port 8080');