JavaScript is a programming language that has radically changed the world of web development and has even become the most popular language. According to recent reports, JavaScript is used by more than 94% of websites.
There are many JavaScript frameworks available on the market like AngularJS, ReactJS, NodeJS etc.
Today we’re taking a closer look at Node.js, a JavaScript runtime environment that lets you write server-side applications. Node.js can be used to build different types of applications such as command applications, web applications, real-time chat applications, a REST API server, etc.
Node.js is mainly used today to build network programs like web servers, similar to PHP, Java or ASP.NET.
5 reasons to use Node.js
- Easy to learn
Node.js is really easy to learn and those who already know JavaScript will easily write applications via Node.js. There are of course some differences, but most of the time everything is the same.
The main advantage of Node is that a single JavaScript developer can work on the entire web application instead of two developers working on the frontend and the backend. In addition, frontend and backend applications can share JS code. Reusing code helps reduce application development costs.
- Speed
Companies admire the speed of Node.js. Why ? Because it uses version 8 of the engine developed by Google which compiles JavaScript into native machine code and operates at lightning speed.
Common tasks in web applications, such as reading or writing to the database, reading and writing to network connections, and reading or writing to the file system, can be performed quickly at help from Node.js.
Node.js helps companies build fast, scalable network applications that can handle simultaneous high-speed connections. Node.js doesn’t slow anything down; developers just write the code and Node.js applications make the right choice.
- Active community
Node.js encourages sharing with the presence of the Node Package manager or NPM. It includes the deposit of 50,000 modules, which helps developers to create effective solutions.
Thanks to the integrated NPM, developers can update, share or reuse codes with extreme ease. We can therefore say that the Node.js manager is robust and constitutes a coherent solution for developers.
NPM keeps modules isolated from other projects, allowing developers to avoid version conflicts.
- Scalability
Node allows you to extend simultaneous requests, which other languages cannot do. Some have reached extensibility levels of over a million simultaneous requests. Of course, it all depends on the work you do behind each request and the number of resources you have, even if Node is still as good at making things happen.
Compared to Java, below a certain point defined by the number of Java threads, Java is better for processing simultaneous requests, because the threads are faster.
In general, it is easier to write scalable solutions in Node.
However, Node.js has a few limitations mainly concerning the use of the CPU, because the whole application runs on a single thread. You cannot use the full power of the CPU.
- Extensibility
Among the other advantages of Node.js, there is the possibility of integrating it with a variety of useful tools. Node.js can be easily customized.
It can be extended for example with integrated APIs for the development of HTTP or DNS servers. To facilitate frontend development with older versions of Node or browsers. Node.js can be integrated into a JS Babel compiler .
For unit tests, it works perfectly with, for example, Jasmine. For monitoring deployment and troubleshooting, it works well with Log.io.
Tools such as Migrat , PM2 , and Webpack can be used respectively for data migration, process management and grouping of modules. In addition, Node.js is complemented by frameworks such as Express , Hapi, Meteor, Koa, Fastify, Nest, Restify and many more.
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