Node JS is a free and open-source server environment that runs on various platforms like Linux, Windows, UNIX, Mac OS, etc. It uses JavaScript on the server and uses asynchronous programming. The Node JS executes on the server-side to open a file on the server. It handles a file request by sending the task to the computer’s file system. After sending a task, it gets ready to process the next request, and at the time when that file system has opened and read the file, the server returns such content back to the file. The process of waiting for the current task to be done and the next task to be scheduled is eliminated with Node JS. It merely continues to process the next request.
Node JS initiates in running asynchronous, single-threaded, and non-blocking programming that is memory efficient. It can generate dynamic page content can create, read, write, open, delete and close files on the server. It can also collect form data, and can add, modify, and remove data in the database. The tasks in the Node JS files are executed on certain events. The extension used for the Node JS files is .js, and they must be initiated on the server before having any effect. Node JS could be run in the browser as a standalone application. Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it be efficient and lightweight.
Reasons for Using Node JS in Developing a Website
The popularity and the incremental usage of JavaScript while developing a website have brought up a dramatic change in web development. Node.js is considered a packaged compilation of Google’s V8 JavaScript Engine, a core library, and the libuv platform abstraction layer which is primarily written in JavaScript. Node.js has been introduced to create real-time websites with push capability over WebSockets.
It is the tool provided to the developers for working in the non-blocking and event-driven I/O paradigm. The implementation of Node.js in building websites, it has increased the standard of the websites thus making it a popular technology among most of the web development companies in India.
- Node.js is a Ubiquitous Runtime:-It play a critical role in the technology stack of many high-profile companies due to the provision of its unique benefits. Node.js can be run in every environment. JavaScript has been a language of choice for most the seasoned developers as it has evolved and added features considered essential to modern programming languages
- JSON in your Database:-It is essential for the developers to use Node.js in server-side scripting. If the developer does not use Node.js on the server, then the backend translation procedure continues leads to the translation of two things- one is the logic in the developer’s head from the JavaScript to the server-side framework, and another one is the translation of HTTP data from JSON to the server-side objects. Node.js executes very fast as it is a JavaScript runtime that uses the V8 engine which is developed by Google for use in the Chrome browser. V8 compiles the JavaScript into native machine code and executes the JavaScript at lightning speeds.
- It’s Fast:-The event loop is the real scenario behind the execution of Node.js. It is the single thread that performs all the I/O operations asynchronously. When a Node application performs an I/O operation, it sends an asynchronous program to the event loop, coupled with a callback function, and then continues to execute the rest of its program. The event loop then returns to the task to execute its callback, when the async operation completes.
- Modules and Community:-The package manager of Node.js npm executes in a fast, robust and consistent way. It can manage complexities by specifying and installing project dependencies. It avoids the version conflict, by keeping the packages isolated from other projects. While using Node.js, allows for the use of the same language on the server, on the client, and in the database. The data can be kept in its native JSON format from browser to disk.
- Real-time, Made Easy with WebSockets:-The Node.js can be used effectively in many concurrent connections real-time web applications, multi-user games, and chatting applications. It makes it easy with WebSocket through the use of the WebSocket protocol. Through the two-way communication channel of the WebSockets, the server can push data to the client and as well as the client to the server.
- Streaming Data:-Node.js performs excellently at handling I/O streaming data. It can read or write I/O streams to WebSockets as similarly it can read and write streams to HTTP.
- One Codebase And You’re Real-time For Free:-Node.js shares a single codebase and allow writing JavaScript on the client and server and thus making it convenient to send data between the client and server. In changing any data on the server, the modified data is automatically sent to the client. Thus the data displayed on the web pages automatically reacts and updates.
- Corporate Sponsorships & The Linux Foundation:-Though Node.js is an open-source environment, it has corporate sponsorship and employee involvement from Microsoft, Paypal, Walmart, etc., and is also a part of the Linux Foundation.
- Hosting Options Galore:-With the fast adoption of Node.js in several environments, the hosting with Node.js has also increased at a rapid rate with the provision of several hosting options. The hosts like Platform-as-a-Service providers reduce deployments to a single command.
- Every Developer Knows (A Little) JavaScript:-Almost all the web developers are acquainted with the web technology of JavaScript, and it is a common and well-known platform for running Node.js for most web developers.
Impact of Node JS on Building Websites
Node.js had grown its popularity rapidly with the growing popularity of JavaScript. It has brought up a dynamic change in the creation of websites and laid a substantial impact on the companies and communities that run programs with the requirement of high numbers of Input/Output operations. Such few companies that have adopted Node.js are LinkedIn, Paypal, Netflix, GoDaddy, etc. The focus of Node.js on handling HTTP with primacy and reducing latency has made it extremely popular for improving scalability and site performance. Along with the sheer presence of JavaScript in almost all the websites, Node.js has brought a vast difference in the improvement of the user experience in websites and the overall efficiency of the websites and the applications.
The developer can automatically get all the advantages of full-stack JavaScript development by using Node.js for the backend. Node.js provides the facility of code sharing and reuse, better speed and performance, a natural way of knowledge sharing within a team, better efficiency and overall developer productivity, and provision for a considerable number of free tools. The developers who are trained in frontend JavaScript can start programming the server-side with the minimum learning curve. The developer can reuse code on the back-end and front-end by wrapping it into modules and creating a new level of abstraction with the same language on both sides. Using Node.js for microservices architecture is a great selection being it is a lightweight technology tool. Thus Node.js has introduced a revolutionary improvement in the development of a website along with the amalgamation of the database with the front-end functional part.
Among the several benefits of Node.js, the single-threaded environment of Node.js is often considered a drawback of the technology. A CPU-bound task can block the event loop thus resulting in seconds of delay for all the Node.js website users. The heavy computation can block up the Node’s single thread and cause problems for all the clients. The incoming requests would be blocked until the previous calculation is completed. Due to its extraordinary potentiality and immense contribution to improving the website development has attracted the majority of the companies to use the Node.js package. The developer needs to be seriously careful not to allow an exception to bubble up to the core Node.js event loop that would cause the Node.js instance to terminate. As discussed earlier in this article; the node package manager NPM comes by default in the package with every Node.js installation. The chatting applications are the most real-time, multi-user application that uses Node.js. It is an instance for the data-intensive application implementing Node.js that runs across distributed devices thus leaving a wide impact on the real-time and multi-user applications.
Conclusion
The adoption of Node.js by most companies has increased its implementation in real-time applications with several benefits and convenience in running programs in web browsers and web servers. As discussed in this article previously, the notable improvement in execution speed and scalability of the websites for using Node.js is an incredible achievement in the website development industry. Recently the Node.js technology is also been actively used in enterprise-level software development.
Global organizations such as Capital One and NASA have also adopted Node.js for its implementation in diverse spheres. Node.js has brought convenience for every developer in developing a multi-user application within a single-thread environment. Within the Node.js package, the developers also have an option to try out some necessary frameworks like express.js to get an outline and idea of how the JavaScript dependencies are used with high performance, equal scalability, and easily maintainable applications in JavaScript.