Go deep in NodeJS - Part 3

ECMAScript

ECMAScript is a standard for scripting languages, including JavaScript. It is best known as a JavaScript standard intended to ensure the interoperability of web pages across different web browsers. It is standardized by Ecma International

The ECMAScript specification is a standardized specification of a scripting language developed by Brendan Eich of Netscape; initially named Mocha, then LiveScript, and finally JavaScript. In December 1995, Sun Microsystems and Netscape announced JavaScript in a press release. In November 1996, Netscape announced a meeting of the Ecma International standards organization to advance the standardization of JavaScript.

There are key uses of ECMAScript in Node.js:

• ECMAScript outlines the specifics of the JavaScript language’s syntax and meaning, which Node.js uses to write server-side applications.
• Any type of data can be passed in Node.js variables defined by ECMAScript such as string, number, array, date, and objects.
• Node. js supports modern ECMAScript features which were added in ES2015 and later including classes, arrow functions, template literals, destructuring, and so on.
• ES6 brought the ECMAScript modules which remain as a standard to ensure the reuse of code in Node.js.
• Promises are a fundamental part of handling asynchronous operations in Node.js that were introduced in ES6.
• Async/Await Added in ES8 (2017), async/await increases the clarity and manageability of parallel code.
• Classes are another improvement that makes it easy to come up with and manage objects and in turn implement OOP in Node.js applications.
• Provide object type that can be used to modify iterative behavior.
• Allow functions to be stopped and restarted which may be helpful when dealing with non-synchronous operations.
• In ES6 new Map and Set data structures were included that offer better functionality and performance in contrast to the original objects or arrays.
• New methods of ECMAScript versions are added to the language, such as Array.prototype.includes, Array.prototype.find, etc.
• With the update to ES6 and later, error handling certainly got upgraded and the process of handling errors and debugging in Node became easier with Try/Catch.

While I'm writing this article, the latest version is ECMAScript 2023 (ES14).

Conclusion

ECMAScript is used significantly in the Node. The necessary language features and standards originated in js by providing the foundation of why JavaScript is a strong choice for server-side applications. Compared with classic ECMAScript, modern ECMAScript features improve the function of Node.js, thereby allowing developers to create programs that run quickly, are easy to comprehend, and require few changes in the future.

NPM

Let me first introduce the readers to NPM which is an acronym for Node Package Manager, it is a core module in the Node.js ecosystem. It is the built-in package manager mostly associated with Node.js, and it assists developers in coordinating as well as sharing the libraries and dependencies required in their projects. Here's a closer look at what NPM is and how it works. In September 2022 over 2.1 million packages were reported being listed in the npm registry.

With NPM you can build some of your directory structure. To recap the main points, the major purpose of the tool is the automation of dependency and package management. This was essentially the case of indicating all the required dependencies for a given project, within the specific package. Then if you distribute it as a JSON file, any time you (or anyone else) need to get started with your project they can just NPM install, and boom all dependencies are installed. In addition to this, one can state what versions are required by the project to avoid changes that will affect the working of the project.

Based on NPM website documentation, use NPM for:

• Adapt packages of code for your apps, or incorporate packages as they are.
• Download standalone tools you can use right away.
• Run packages without downloading using npx.
• Share code with any npm user, anywhere.
• Restrict code to specific developers.
• Create organizations to coordinate package maintenance, coding, and developers.
• Form virtual teams by using organizations.
• Manage multiple versions of code and code dependencies.
• Update applications easily when the underlying code is updated.
• Discover multiple ways to solve the same puzzle.
• Find other developers who are working on similar problems and projects.

For more information about `Publish Typescript Package in NPM` follow this link.

Conclusion

It is vital to realize that NPM is one of the most critical parts of Node.js developers, that gives them a way to manage their projects dependencies, synchronize code, and make development processes much more efficient.