When creating a web application for your business enterprise, it’s crucial to decide on a viable run-time environment. It acts as a small operating system and offers all the functionalities crucial to make everything work as intended.
Launched in 2009, Node.js is an open-source run-time environment based on the Javascript language. Whether it’s Netflix, PayPal, or LinkedIn, companies from every industry use Node.js to develop high-quality back-end structures in their web applications.
Node.js can help create the best IoT applications, REST API-based applications, real-time chats, complex single-page applications (SPAs), etc. Other than that, OTT applications like Netflix use Node.js for data streaming because the latter is lightweight and fast in concurrently serving and processing many requests.
One of the common misconceptions among the general consensus is that Node.js is a back-end platform. Although Node.js’ event-driven and non-blocking nature helps it become one of the best back-end run-time environments, developers would find Node.js quite helpful in front-end development as well.
A few of the most prevalent reasons why Node.js is a suitable platform for both front-end and back-end development are reusability, productivity and development efficiency. Moreover, Node.js has a massive community of developers and contributors who can help you in case of issues with any stage of the development process. That is because there is a possibility that whatever problem you encounter has been solved by someone already.
Reasons To Use Node.js For App Development
Node.js is arguably one of the most prominent open-source run-time environments. But there are several other alternatives to this platform. However, developers still choose Node.js because of the features and benefits it offers for application development.
So let’s check out a few of the most significant reasons to choose Node.js for app development:
Language Sharing Across Front-end & Back-end
Most run-time platforms use different programming languages for front-end and back-end development. But node.js uses the same language, i.e. JavaScript, for both front-end and back-end development. That’s why developers choose Node.js for app development, as it allows for effortless communication and code exchange between front-end and back-end developers. It is a time-saver and ensures the developer doesn’t have to be fluent in multiple languages or convert the code for development.
Another reason to choose Node.js is that it lets you go for JavaScript and TypeScript. So if you prefer dynamic code typing, choose JavaScript; but if you prefer static code typing, choose TypeScript.
Furthermore, Node.js offers built-in JSON support for effective HTTP communication, while other back-end languages don’t, so you would need special libraries to parse JSON.
Effortless & Faster Development
Compared to other languages, Javascript is easier to learn, and chances are that every developer already knows of it. So whether you are looking to get started with front-end or back-end development, the learning curve would be relatively shorter.
Setting up the platform and developing the application with it would be quick and easy. If you want to create microservice environments for your applications, Node.js will help you create APIs more effectively and link multiple of them together.
Moreover, for anyone looking to experiment with their projects, Node.js could help you with prototyping solutions and architectures. Since Node.js lets you choose both JavaScript and TypeScript, you can switch from static typing to dynamic typing and vice-versa quite comfortably when you are farther into the development process. That gives you more liberty into how the different components of your application respond.
Sometimes, you need additional libraries to add more features and functionalities to your applications. In that case, you can opt for Node.js, as it lets you create new libraries, and you can even choose from the existing ones through the Node Package Manager.
With all that, Node.js helps you develop the back-end structure of your website or web application fairly quickly and effortlessly.
Node Package Manager
Node Package Manager, or NPM, is one of the greatest benefits of using Node.js as a suitable run-time environment. As the name suggests, it is a package manager for the JavaScript programming language used by developers to manage and share packages (tools, libraries, etc.) for Node.js projects. With NPM, you can reuse and share code and manage dependencies for your projects more easily.
NPM gives you access to a massive repository of packages, which makes it easier to find and use existing code. Automated management of dependencies ensures that you install and use the correct version of a package. Moreover, developers can easily distribute and collaborate on a particular code through easy versioning and publishing. With Node.js, developers can reuse the code and manage the dependencies consistently, improving efficiency and organization. Overall, NPM is an excellent tool in the Node.js ecosystem, which helps streamline the application development process through easier dependency management and code sharing.
With NPM, you can ensure a consistent structure for your codebase and a more effective, centralized management for your dependencies, which makes project maintenance and dependency management easier.
Single-threaded Event Loop Architecture
With the help of a single-threaded event loop architecture, Node.js can handle several concurrent connections. That’s because the event loop architecture lets the server process several requests simultaneously without the possibility of the system slowing down.
Moreover, being a Javascript framework, Node.js uses a non-blocking I/O model, meaning it can continue to process other requests while it is waiting for a response from a database or other resource. That helps to keep the server responsive, even under heavy load.
The single-threaded event loop architecture makes Node.js more efficient in terms of resource utilization. Unlike traditional web servers that create a new thread for each request, Node.js uses a single thread for all requests, reducing CPU utilization and memory overhead.
The event loop architecture of Node.js follows a simple and intuitive programming model, and the developers find it easy to understand. So developers of varied levels of skill sets can access it and reduce the time to develop high-quality applications.
Thanks to the single-threaded event loop architecture, Node.js is considered excellent for real-time applications like online games, chat applications, and OTT services.
Built-in Support in AWS
Node.js offers built-in support for AWS, which helps provide the developers with a set of modules to interact with AWS services through JavaScript language. So they don’t have to write too much code, which means you won’t have to use AWS SDKs. Native JavaScript also streamlines the web development process.
These are just a few reasons to opt for Node.js for creating different types of applications like SPAs, real-time applications, OTT services, etc. It makes full-stack development easier due to language sharing across the stack. Also, app development is rapid in this run-time environment, especially because it hosts the largest software library registry in the world. So whenever you encounter a problem, there’s a good chance you will find the solution in the library.
Examples Of Node.js Apps
Node.js is one of the most sought-after run-time environments available on the internet.
Netflix
With over 230 million subscribers around the world, Netflix is one of the biggest, most popular OTT services available. Node.js helps this application by processing enormous volumes of data and information for a massive number of users simultaneously.
Groupon
Groupon is a popular platform that helps customers take advantage of the discounts and offers on different goods and services of popular companies. Groupon developers use Node.js to unify all services with a single technology.
Uber
Not only is Uber one of the most prominent taxi services around the globe, but it is also among the first few major corporations to use Node.js because of the lower cost of implementation, clean code, and the ability to process massive amounts of data.
Trello
Since day one, Node.js has been the preferred choice of core technology for Trello. Moreover, With an event-driven approach, Node.js helps implement the real-time update more effectively in Trello.
There are several other prominent multinational corporations that use Node.js for creating the best IoT applications, REST API-based applications, real-time chats, complex single-page applications (SPAs), etc. But these might be enough to show how beneficial Node.js can be for web applications of all types and sizes.
Conclusion
With millions of active users in terms of websites and web applications, Node.js is one of the best, most prominent open-source run-time environments available on the internet. A few of the most familiar reasons why so many websites and applications use Node.js are effortless language sharing across front-end & back-end, fast and effective development, Node Package Manager, built-in support for AWS, and a single-threaded event loop architecture.
So if you are creating a new single-page application, real-time application, etc., you may choose amongst the different node.js frameworks available on the internet. Go through each and select the most suitable to ensure your high-quality application or website performs well.