Node.js is a beast on its own. Since its release, this technology has continued to keep its stranglehold on the digital world, being one of the most prominent and powerful frameworks of JavaScript. Other JS frameworks, like Angular, React, etc., can’t fade even an inch of Node.js popularity.
Node.js is a free, open-source, cross-platform JavaScript runtime that works on the server side. In simple words, this tech allows developers to execute JavaScript code on a computer using runtime rather than running it in the browser. Node.js helps build scalable and efficient REST APIs. One can accelerate their business growth with several Node.js-based digital products, whether it is desktop applications or hybrid mobile applications. Is this reason enough to choose Node.js for projects?
If you’re in deep thought about why this technology is considered most useful in the eyes of Node.js developers, you must check out this Node.js guide. Here you can gain a good insight into it and find more reasons to say yes to Node.js for your next project.
Let's get started!
What is Node.js Development?
Node.js is a robust and lightweight framework for creating server-side web applications and extends JavaScript APIs for usual server-side functionalities. Developed on Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engines, Node.js compiles the JS into the native machine code. Generally, this framework is used for enterprise-level application development. It may include video streaming sites, single-page applications, and other web apps. Node.js follows an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model, which is also a plus point, especially when it comes to data-intensive real-time applications development.
The History of Node.js Development
The creator of this technology Ryan Dahl invented this masterpiece in 2009 as an open-source project, which gained massive popularity with time, especially when Node Package Manager was introduced. First, Dahl wanted to build a web server that can handle thousands of connections at the same time. Later, he developed the entire framework called Node.js, which is publicly available under an MIT license.
After a few years, in June 2011, Microsoft and Joyent came together to release a native Windows version of Node.js. The first edition of Node.js was published in July 2011, and in January 2012, Isaac Schlueter, the co-worker who created Node Package Manager took over the project, and Dahl stepped down.
Main Features
The following points are the primary features of Node.js that lead many to give a node to this technology for their dream projects.
Asynchronous and Event Driven:
Node.js is asynchronous in nature. This is why the API call doesn’t wait for results and doesn't block other calls. All the APIs of Node.js are non-blocking. Once it finishes the execution, it runs a callback or notifies about certain events using events. Even if Node.js is running on a single thread with event looping, it has the capability to handle more and more requests. For instance, the Apache HTTP server uses an asynchronous non-blocking way to handle code execution.
Node Package Manager
NPM is an effective tool that embraces the power to handle the installation and updation of reusable modules from online collections. Not only this, but it also takes care of version and dependency management of reusable modules from online collections.
Very Fast
As we have already discussed, Node.js is based on Google Chrome's V8 JavaScript Engine, which is why it is very fast. This V8 JavaScript engine is very fast in executive JavaScript code.
Scalable
Today, companies design and develop software infrastructure having a scalable model. When it comes to scalability, many companies are showing high interest in Node.js as it meets their expectations. Node.js can handle concurrent requests using a cluster model to manage this load for active CPU cores. Thanks to its event mechanism, Node.js is easily scalable for several purposes.
Wide Community Support
Node.js has become quite popular nowadays because of its excellent features that make the journey of digital product development easier. But what if you face any issue or find yourself stuck with this technology? Well, there are a lot of community tutorials, shared code, and resources you can check out to get answers to your questions.
How Does Node.js Development Work?
Want to have a look behind the scenes? Well, three primary features create a Node.js architecture.
Single-Threaded
Node.js works on a single thread which is considered an excellent approach to avoiding context switching and many more aspects.
Event Loop
Node.js uses events and that’s the reason why it is pretty fast compared to other technologies. The term event loop refers to handling queuing and processing of asynchronous events. It is built on top of ‘libuv’ that handles queues containing events with their callbacks. Let’s take an example. When a client sends a request to the Node.js server, the request-handling function is placed into the event queue and further handled by the event loop.
Non-blocking I/O
The event loop always works on a single thread. But it is crucial to keep in mind that all long-running tasks (network I/O, data access, etc.) are carried out asynchronously on top of threads which push back the results through callback to the event loop thread. Such a process is considered an asynchronous non-blocking way of handling code execution.
Frontend Development
As you all know, the frontend is part of a program we all see and interact with. The development of this part of the program is associated with coding the UI interfaces, dealing with events, and interacting with backend servers to retrieve data at the frontend UI level. Node.js is used for frontend development.
Backend Development
On the other hand, the backend deals with server-side programming and database interaction that help frontend applications retrieve the data easily. Node.js development is also used for the backend of web and mobile applications.
Why Are Businesses Using Node.js Development?
When Node.js was released, it created a huge buzz in the tech world and heightened the interest of many developers across the globe. Node.js embrace incredible features and meet the developer’s expectations providing the best they always look for. Even this open-source and cross-platform solution is also an excellent choice for real-time app development.
One can expect higher scalability and performance with Node.js. It follows a single-threading approach that allows developers to create scalable applications that are good enough to handle heavy traffic. Surely, these are the reasons why today Node.js has become one of the topmost choices of developers. Well, this is not it. This open-source technology is also considered an integral part of the MEAN stack because it helps developers build frontend and backend components of the application. The event-driven programming feature of Node.js makes it an ideal fit for IoT applications like controlling and monitoring sensor data.
The wide community of Node.js is a plus point of this technology, which improves the language and its associated tools and modules. Such a community is a great source of learning and helps beginners get answers to their questions in a few minutes.
But When Should You Use Node.js Development?
You might be wondering when is the right time to utilize the power of Node.js. We have revealed the answer here-
Data Streaming
When it comes to handling real-time data streaming, Node.js is a savior. Its asynchronous nature is excellent in streaming media, data from multiple sources, uploading files, or for Websockets servers.
Microservices
Node.js is a fast and lightweight platform that is well-suited to act as a microservices server. One can use this technology for writing microservices, for instance, API gateway.
API Server
As already discussed in this blog, Node.js can handle connections at once. Hence, it is considered best for an API service. Converting Javascript Objects into JSON format is also easier as JSON format is used naturally by Javascript.
Who Uses Node.js Development?
Currently Node.js is used by almost several companies. If we name a few, it is used by big companies like:
Yahoo
PayPal
Netflix
Medium
LinkedIn
Twitter
Spotify
eBay
Reddit
Godaddy
Conclusion
Node.js has earned a reputed place in the market. Thanks to its amazing features that play a significant role in allowing everything to happen. Whether it is the Internet of Things (IoT) or cross-platform capability, it has already shown its value in several aspects of the technology. Above all, its impact will also be experienced in creating high-performance web-based and mobile-based backed systems.
Today developers benefit a lot from utilizing this technology and contribute to its growth by making suggestions or adding more and more modules. If you ask us about the future of Node.js, it is completely bright, and this language will surely rise and rule the market for a long time.
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