Node.js is distinct from JavaScript. It powers enterprises like Airbnb, LinkedIn, and NASA, offering infinite advantages but also potential constraints. Many smaller businesses and startups understand their lead and leverage technology in developing applications. The advantages of Node.js are infinite, but you should also be informed of its constraints. Get a full idea about Node.js and evade making severe mistakes in development that could cost you money.
Let’s know more about NodeJS
What is Node.js?
Node.js is an open source server-side runtime environment created on Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine. It provides an event-driven, non-blocking I/O and cross-platform runtime environment by using JavaScript for building a highly scalable server-side application. Node.Js is used to create various types of applications such as command line applications, web application, real-time chat application, REST API server, etc. Though, it is used to develop network programs like web servers, similar to PHP, Java, or ASP.NET.
How is Node.Js distinct from Web JavaScript?
There is no variation between web JavaScript and Node.Js in terms of the language used. JavaScript is used in both browsers and Node.Js. The only special is the different set of APIs. When you come to browsers, you have a variety of DOM/web APIs exposed that helps you communicate with UI and enable you to access the hardware to a confined extent. For comparison, Node.js comes with many APIs that fit for backend development, e.g., the support for file systems, HTTP requests, streams, child processes, etc. Browsers also support for file systems or HTTP requests, but those are usually limited due to security concerns.
Why NodeJS?
Node.js is a perfect and best choice for data-intensive real-time applications and for sites that are expected to witness a drastic growth in the number of users. On the other hand, an inbuilt library allows applications to serve as a web server. It allows to create web servers and also networking tools and also its applications can be run on various servers – Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, and Unix.
Reasons to use Node.js for web application development
- It’s Fast: Can build fast and scalable network applications as JavaScript execution is fast. The single threaded model with event loop is also highly helpful and enables handling of multiple client requests. It is one of the primary benefits of using Node.js for web applications. Due to the presence of the event loop in Node.js, there is no need for creating more threads, even when the applications receive numerous concurrent client requests. Thus the app uses less memory.
- Node.js is perfect for real-time applications: For real-time apps like chat, then Node.js is the ideal suited for the development. Moreover, Node.js is used in the development of games, event-based server, non-blocking driven server is best suited.
- Node.js streaming: Since Node.js is asynchronous and event-driven, tackling of I/O bound tasks extremely good. Streams are UNIX pipes which enable easy reading of data from the source and pipe the data to the destination.
- Data Synchronization among client and server: As Node.js enables writing JavaScript on both client and server-side as data transfer happens very quickly.
- Encourages sharing: Node.js shares packages of library code. If any issue raises by a Node.js developer then Node Package Manager, with its repository of 50,000 packages will assist the Node.js developer with a solution. Everything will be done very quickly, like updating, sharing, and reusing of code.
The above are some of the reasons for most of the developers prefer to use Node.js for building web applications.
Conclusion
Node.js is promising in the development of web applications, particularly for real-time applications. However, for the development of such applications, it is highly imperative to choose the best Node.js development company in India and the UK with a proven track record. If you are a web developer, then it is the time to take note of the gaining popularity of Node.js.
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