10 Must-Know Pros Of Using Node.js Technology
Unlike most of the key technologies on the IT market, Node.js entered it silently in 2009, without any special “Boom!”, and unlike most of the loud technologies it didn’t extinct a few years later. Furthermore, Node.js is gaining popularity with more and more developers switching to it, with latest versions of it emerging and more worldwide companies using Node technology for web app development.
You have probably read that IT companies are continuously looking for talented Node.js developers for hire. In this article, we’ll go through the key facts about this technology, learn about development tools, analyze its existing alternatives and provide advantages of its usage.
It’s Important to Know about Node
If your web platform requires highly interactive user experience, Node.js is right for you. Developed by Ryan Dahl for web application development in real time that boosts ROI, Node js enables development of fast web servers in JavaScript by bringing event-driven programming to web servers. Node.js is defined as a cross-platform, run-time, open source environment for networking and server-side applications, according to Dzone.
Node.js server works like a single thread that is able to act on callbacks. Unlike other servers, this one never never blocks on the main thread, Jeff Dickey writes. This happens due to its peculiarity - instead of building schedules for the processes in the system, node.js controls the decision process which work should be done in the first row. One of the JavaScript developers on TopTal explains that Node.js doesn’t create a new thread for each request, but uses one single thread for all of the requests and avoids blocking of the event until it is accomplished. That is why calls to database is carried out much faster, so the whole system functions better. Such international companies like Walmart, PayPal, eBay, Netflix, Yahoo, and The Mail Online have promoted their businesses using Node.js, as Linux writes.
10 Pros of Node.js
When it comes to using JavaScript for web app development, many programmers are not that much happy with this idea, because JavaScript is quite complicated. Yet it is also seen as one of the most expressive solutions. Logically, JavaScript based platform Node includes many advantages.
- Built-in mode ecosystem
Node.js has built-in package management support solution that is called the Node Package Manager (NPM), which is automatically installed together with the Node.js. Among the most useful NPM’s are Express, Pug, Mongojs, Redis client library, forever utility, and much more.
- Universal and flexible
Node.js is suitable both for front-end and back-end solutions since it can be easily used on server side (as back-end) and on client side (as front-end). Node JS back-end framework, for example, handles data transfers, web page requests, and general server tasks.
- A variety of free tools and modification
Node.js is easy to modify thanks to a huge number of free tools available.
- JavaScript connecting people
It is a perfect platform to work in a team and to share knowledge and information within all the members, because everybody is familiar with JavaScript.
- Data streaming
Request and response of HTTP are considered to be isolated events, but in fact they are data streams. Due to Node.js, file processing is possible already when the file is uploading. Eventually, you save a lot of time.
- Community and Support
In 2015, Node.js community was created for support and contribution by users. They vary depending on the country and provide assistance to all the platform’s clients.
- Used for proxy server
It can be used as a server-side proxy that deals with a large amount of connections without blocking them. in a non-blocking manner. It is especially good if there’s a need in data collection from various sources.
- Asynchronous I/O
Node.js handles asynchronous I/O. By means of this platform it is easy to deal with various network development and common problems. Due to quick JavaScript execution, all big I/O operations are performed asynchronously that helps to scale to large volumes of clients.
- High performing
The efficiency of the Web app development process has been significantly increased by Node.js.
- Affordable cost
If you plan to hire Node.js developer, you should be aware about the financial side of the situation, and usually it is not a problem to find a dedicated developer for a moderate cost. You can hire experts from various countries and rates, for example, look up the Meteor.js developer salary in Google and compare. As we have mentioned before, the node.js salary varies depending on the country and experience, but there is nothing supernatural to find the right developer for your project.
Alternative Technologies to Node.js
Is it only Node.js to be used for web app development? Is there any alternative, you’d ask. Of course! The tech word is developing rapidly and new solutions are entering the tech market in a very quick pace.
Python can be used as an alternative as a proven method, but it could be more suitable for some more simple scripts, and here’s why. Developers give up the idea of using Python due to the lack of flexibility, as Gavin Vickery points out in his article. It is quite complicated to switch between the versions of Python. Python has poor unicode support with tons of literature to look through. Circular imports are complicated even for experienced developers, while Node.js allows coders to import the wherever they want. Python requires much more hardware and works much slower.
.NET is another opportunity and alternative. You can achieve the same results with this solution, however, it will take you more time and effort. You’ll need to use IIS, C#, the Machine.config, Visual Studio, Global.asax, the Web.config, the Process Model, ASP.NET MVC or WebForms. What we mean is that .NET is too complicated in comparison to Node.js.
PHP successfully mixes content with the code, you don’t need any specific apps, just use tags and start writing. It’s available, since most of the web platforms like Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal use PHP code, and it is designed to co-exist with MySQL too. However, PHP is not as simple as it might seem, it doesn’t communicate with many modern NoSQL databases, its code has a brilliant callback speed, is service calls are much thinner than those of PHP.
Conclusion
Node.js should become your top choice for your project, because it comprises everything you need for quick and light web development. Your personal negative attitude to this technology can become an obstacle to love it, but definitely not a reason to refuse from it. Node.js has a number of important advantages that you can’t ignore. Its best advantage, we believe, is the ability to write JavaScript on both sides, the client and the server. When it comes to the financial issues, we assure you, developer salary will not become an obstacle for those who seek for clear and fast maintenance of their project. Node.js has made programming very accessible to JavaScript players by significantly streamlining and simplifying the development process in general. It may appear to be the best option, because it has all the features you may need and will surely deliver excellent and fast performance.
Anastasia Stefanuk is talented and enthusiastic content and marketing specialist from Ukraine. She is passionate about exploring new web development trends and technologies and sharing her knowledge with people. Her biggest desire is to create a huge reading audience and be useful for each reader in particular.
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