In the world of web development, Node.JS is rapidly catching up in terms of popularity amongst developers. It has enabled them to build real-time web applications that transact data freely between the server and the client.
Developers find it easy to program web applications with Node.JS as they can write both, frontend and serverside, scripts using the same language.
In this article, we are going to discuss why choosing Node.JS for your web application is the right choice. For this, we are going to explore the aspects of Node.JS that make it a leading Javascript Framework, but initially let’s understand the definition of Node.JS.
What is Node.JS?
Node.JS is a Javascript runtime that is built on the V8 JavaScript engine of Google Chrome. It is used to build server-side applications that use event-driven, and Non-Blocking Input-Output Models. The best thing about Node.JS is that it is an open-source and cross-platform framework.
Node.JS is best suited for real-time applications, like online chat rooms, or interactive games. Top companies like Netflix, Uber, and PayPal use Node.JS in their web applications.
Being open-source and community-driven, Node.JS has vast libraries of reusable code modules that help in the creation of even the most complex web applications.
Reasons Behind Node.JS Being a Prominent Javascript Framework
There are many Javascript frameworks like Vue.JS, React.JS, and Angular.JS, but Node.JS beats them all when it comes to usability and popularity among developers.
Now, let us see what makes Node.JS a powerful framework that is rapidly making its place in all leading technology stacks. We have listed 9 reasons that make Node.JS a best Javascript framework.
1 – Frontend and backend teams unified
Traditionally, businesses used to have different teams of developers for frontend and backend coding. But Node.JS eliminates this need as it can be used for both. Developers who possess knowledge of this framework can single-handedly create web applications.
It not only increases the efficiency of web applications, because of a unified team, but it also hikes productivity. A web application built using Node.JS requires fewer resources than being built by other frameworks or programming languages.
2 – Speedy processing
“The web applications that are built using Node.JS have a proven page load time being reduced by 50%.”
Node.JS is known for creating web applications that have high speed. It is the exact need of the majority of businesses in the digital world. It uses Google Chrome’s V8 Javascript engine, which compiles the code into native machine code, ensuring speedy processing.
Node.JS is also popular for its ability to handle multiple connections at the same time, which again results in high-speed performance of the applications.
Node.JS uses single threading while processing the applications instead of running multiple threads. This in turn decreases its reliability on extensive server resources while enhancing its performance.
3 – Deployment of Node.JS applications
Node.JS is catching up in popularity among both, developers and the business community. Many web hosting businesses have enabled Node.JS web application deployment making it more widely acceptable.
Similarly to the deployment facilities of Node.JS, the framework is also gaining rapid traction in being included in leading IDEs, that is Integrated Development Environments. Here, the software is used as a base to code in any particular language.
4 – The Internet of Things loves Node.JS
IoT applications are rapidly choosing Node.JS as their programming language. Applications such as home security, smart devices, and health devices are adopting Node.JS as their scripting language.
The primary reason for this is that Node.JS is lightweight and has a cross-platform framework, making it suitable for running on different devices. Node.JS is also preferred in these applications because it is efficient and delivers high performance.
5 – Made for Real-Time Web Applications like games
The best thing about Node.JS is that it is built for real-time web applications. Owing to its high speed, and ability to deal with a large set of data, real-time applications with lightning-fast speed can be built with Node.JS.
Gaming applications that are catching up with the digital world are increasingly driven towards adopting Node.JS as their scripting language. The event-based architecture of Node.JS makes it preferable for such applications.
6 – Open source community
Node.JS is an open-source Javascript Framework, that comes with more than 60,000 modules. These modules contain reusable pieces of code.
Developers find it extremely easy and quick to create applications, as many a time all you need to do is connect the modules without any real programming.
7 – Popularity of Javascript
The best thing about Node.JS is that it is built on Javascript. This has many advantages and the primary one is every developer knows at least a bit about Javascript.
This familiarity with Javascript makes it easy for developers to learn and adapt Node.JS.
8 – Power combination with NoSQL Database
The querying language of NoSQL Databases like Couch Database and Mongo Database is built on Javascript, hence it makes it easier for developers to create queries in applications without deviating from the syntax.
The combination of NoSQL databases and Node.JS is gaining popularity in technology stacks for the same reason.
9 – Microservice architecture is easy to maintain
Node.JS web applications have microservices architecture, meaning a large application is built by using different smaller services or modules. This very aspect of Node.JS makes it easy to maintain.
Any small change in the microservices is only going to affect that particular module, and the application at large won’t be much affected. This becomes a plus point of Node.JS applications as the entire application doesn’t get affected in cases of faulty code or a single wrong line of code.
The microservices architecture is easy to test, as it can be done individually and separately on smaller modules rather than taking the entire application at the same time. This saves developers from the complexity of dealing with the entire application in one go.
Conclusion
The future of internet is going to be dominated by real-time web applications, which holds exciting prospects for Node.JS. Its power fuels both, frontend and server-side applications, making it a favorite of developers.
If you are a business that is seeking high-performance web applications, Node.JS is the framework that you should pick.