It is customary that whenever there is a spearhead in technology, the IT market spouts off about it for some time and then its relinquished, but Node.js is exceptional.
Before we explain how Node.js is revolutionary, let us understand what it is and how it works as best amongst its competitors.
Node.js is a software platform built on Google’s V8 JavaScript engine. It makes use of an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model and a single-threaded event loop which allows high throughput and application scalability.
The ability to code in the same programming language on the front-end and application’s backend is because of the Node.js’s utilization of core JavaScript language.
Applications developed with Node.js are often tied with MongoDB and Express.js which also uses JavaScript. Express.js helps manage the middleware of a Node application whereas MongoDB is a document-based No-SQL database.
Benefits of using Node.js for any custom business application projects:
- Using Node.js reduces the development process time, compared to other frameworks. Hence it is possible to deliver a quick minimum viable product (MVP).
- Using Node.js developers can plan their own project structure resulting in usage of. various tools and frameworks initiated within Node.js and JavaScript community.
- Code written in Node.js is Multiple-platform compatible due to its universality in nature.
- Installation and Execution are much easier.
- It is inexpensive to test and deploy Node.js through Pay As You Grow services.
- Applications are highly scalable due to asynchronous and event-driven processing.
- Node.js has high performance with speedy native bindings and shorter parsing time.
- The Node.js development projects can be of an extremely high load with fast response and quick scalability options, as opposed to PHP applications that may collapse during such loads.
- Great performance for HTTP and TCP protocols.
- Client and Server are tightly coupled eliminating the need for flipping back and forth between multiple technologies.
- Node.js has high Cloud scalability allowing scale up and down to allocate power during congestion and saving resources while the usage is low.
- As Node.js is considered lightweight and easily modifiable with respect to feature enhancements.
- It is possible to ensure the stability and functionality of the system with an increase in congestion
- Hosting for Node.js business app is comparatively cheap and easier
How is Node.js different from web JavaScript?
There is no difference between web JavaScript and Node.js in terms of the language used. JavaScript used in browsers and in Node.js is almost exactly the same.
What makes Node.js special is the different set of APIs?
In browsers, you have a variety of DOM/Web APIs exposed that help you interact with UI and allow you limit access to the hardware.
To compare, Node.js comes which comes with many APIs suitable for backend development, e.g. the support for file systems, HTTP requests, streams, child processes, etc. Browsers do offer some basic support for file systems or HTTP requests, but those are usually limited due to security concerns.
When might Node.js not be the best idea?
Even though Node.js is – in many cases – the perfect fit for building applications, there are still some bad use cases when you shouldn’t consider using it.
Compute heavy applications
Node.js is not suitable for heavy-computing apps. It is based on an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model, and uses only a single CPU core. CPU-heavy operations will just block incoming requests, making the biggest advantage of Node.js pointless. Try considering different and more suitable technology if you are building CPU-heavy software for a better outcome.
CRUD (Create, read, update and delete)
Simple HTML or CURD applications which don’t need separate API, as all data comes directly from the server in such case using Node.js would be supererogatory.
When your application might be imperceptibly more scalable.
You may not be able to handle the high traffic rate coming to your application when using Node.js though your app might be marginally scalable.
Package quality
The are other factors to be considered before instating with Node.js. As many packages are available in npm and its the largest available repository at the moment, the technology is becoming more mature. Yet, there are variations in the quality of packages. You might encounter issues with packages.
How to update Node | Updating Node.js
At present Node.js is a fast-moving and widely used project of open-source technologies. To boost the stability and security minor updates are released every few weeks among all version branches.
Here are some of the easiest and most effective ways to install the newest version of Node on Linux-based Machines. Before getting started, check which version of Node.js you are currently using by running the command node -v in command line terminal.
Update Node using Node Package Manager
- Current Nodejs version: Check current Nodejs version on your system using the following command
node -v
- Clearing cache forcefully: Clean all npm cache from your system forcefully.
sudo npm cache clean -f
- Install a package called “n”: After cleaning up the cache install “n” module using npm command
sudo npm install -g n
- Install Nodejs: Now install or update to latest Nodejs version using n module
sudo n stable
- Setup Binary Link: Now link your node binary with latest Nodejs installed binary file using the following command.
sudo ln -sf /usr/local/n/versions/node/6.0.0/bin/node /usr/bin/node
- Check Nodejs Version: Finally recheck your Nodejs version. You will find that it showing latest version.
node -v
Node.js vs Java Comparison – Differences in Performance, Development, And Uses
Java is a general-purpose, object-oriented, platform-independent, portable, and robust interpreted programming language, which was designed to be used in the distributed environment of the Internet. Java code can run on any Java Virtual Machine, which offers developers a lot of flexibility.
Let’s know Java: pros and cons
Pros
- A rock-solid foundation thanks to over 20 years of engineering;
- Java has a vast library that developers can use to speed up the development process;
- JVM(Java Virtual Machine) provides excellent stability;
- Offers quality IDEs and a wide range of monitoring and debugging tools that are ready for deployment, making development easier and apps bug-free;
- Tools such as Eclipse, NetBeans, or IntelliJ, which are integrated with servers, debuggers, and decompilers makes the development process faster;
- Excellent computation efficiency;
- Great code maintainability.
Cons
- The slow development process;
- Works best if the code is clean and straightforward ;
- Configuring tools can be time-consuming;
- Code migration can become an issue.
When to choose Java?
Applications that are CPU intensive or CPU bound will benefit from Java.
Since Java provides strongly types sources, refactoring it and bug fixing will be easier and straightforward during maintenance. For an application that uses RDBMS (Relational Database Management System), Java will be a great choice as it includes tools that provide multi-database support.
Java has excellent Networking support.
Node.js is a JavaScript runtime built on Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine, appreciated for its amazing performance and scalability.
Node.js: pros and cons
Pros
- Learning Node.js is easier for those who already know JavaScript;
- Fast development as the framework and libraries does a great deal of work, developers build software much faster in JavaScript;
- Node.js projects compile very quickly
- Code re-use features boots the productivity and makes Node.js so popular among developers.
- Developers don’t need to learn a new syntax. It also provides an opportunity to use JavaScript on the server and client side.
Cons
- Lack of IDEs
- The JavaScript ecosystem is not as reliable as the Java ecosystem.
What is Node Js used for?
You must be thinking. When to use Node Js?
Node.js is a perfect choice when you are developing web-apps, mobile-apps, a real-time application like live chat, messaging
Simple example Node.js and Express Application
To create your first Node.js application follow the procedure below:
Step 1: Install the latest stable version of node.js from Node.js.
Step 2: Open the terminal and initialize a node project in a directory using the following command
npm init
Above step initiates a node project and the directory will have a package.json file.
Step 3: Install express using the following command
npm install express
Express.js is web application framework for Node.js. It is designed for building web applications and APIs
Step 4: Create a Server with following code
Example 1:
let express = require(‘express’);
let path = require(‘path’);
let app = express();
app.get(‘/’, (req, res)=>{
res.json({“name”:”pi”});
})
app.listen(‘3000’, ()=>{
console.log(“listening at port 3000”)
})
Save it as app.js
Run the server with command node app.js. The server is listening to requests at port 3000. Now point your browser to localhost:3000
localhost:3000 will respond with {“name”:”pi”} which is a JSON object, server listening to requests at ‘/’ (root);
Example 2:
Paste the below code in app.js and point your browser to localhost:3000/string
let express = require(‘express’);
let path = require(‘path’);
let app = express();
app.get(‘/string’, (req, resp)=>{
resp.send(“Node.js Example”);
})
app.listen(‘3000’, ()=>{
console.log(“listening at port 3000”)
}
localhost:3000/string will respond with “Node.js Example”, server listening to requests at ‘/string’;
Example 3:
Paste below code in app.js
let express = require(‘express’);
let path = require(‘path’);
let app = express();
app.get(‘/index’, (req, res)=>{
res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname +’/index.html’));
})
app.listen(‘3000’, ()=>{
console.log(“listening at port 3000”)
}
Create an HTML file save it as “index.html” with following code
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang=”en”>
<head>
<meta charset=”UTF-8″>
<meta name=”viewport” content=”width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0″>
<meta http-equiv=”X-UA-Compatible” content=”ie=edge”>
<title>Node.Js</title>
</head>
<body>
<h2>This is example Node.js</h2>
</body>
</html>
and point your browser to localhost:3000/index
Now the Node.js is serving HTML file when the browser points to localhost:3000/index.
we obtain “This is example Node.js” as the response
Few Top Companies that Used Node.js in Production
The popularity of this technology can easily be recognized once you see the below list of the top-notch companies.
- Netflix
- Trello
- PayPal
- Walmart
- Uber
- Groupon
- Ebaysar
The technological advancement has changed the development process so we need to adopt the new technologies for a better tomorrow.
If you want to hire the finest NodeJs experts, Contact us now.
Hope you liked our content. We will share more tech posts in coming future.
