Why use Node.js – look behind the scenes of web development

JavaScript as a programming language and data format (JSON) has changed web development drastically. Integrating Node.js with it to do things on the server as well as in the browser is a trend lately. These two sentences, we feel, have to be illuminated and explained for everyone to grasp. So in this article, we are going to talk about why use Node.JS, what is Node.js used for and top examples of Node JS use. Surely, this is technological stuff for programmers/coders, and some might find the language not quite apprehendable. With this in mind, we will try to make it as light-some as possible and speak in more human terms. We just want to explain what makes Node.js great and what is all the hype about.

First off, the praise is well deserved, as Node decisively eased the work of anyone building web applications. After decades of web request/response paradigm, having real-time 2-way communication is a bliss. That is a communication between the server and the client. And that, in turn, is a model to distribute workloads among service providers (server) and service requests (clients).

Onboard so far? Great, now some statistical info about the demand for Nodejs. It is by far the fastest-growing language in use, and it ranks in Top-10 most wanted developer skills. The use of Node.js is mainly for full-stack, front-end, and back-end.

What is Node js?

Node JS is a JavaScript runtime environment. But what is that, one might ask. By run-time environment, the infrastructure to build and run software applications is meant. To build applications in JavaScript, in this case. Let’s see what are the Node JS definition versions.

The company itself describes Node as a “Javascript runtime built on Chrome V8 engine”. Wikipedia states, that Node.js is an open-source and cross-platform environment to execute code. According to TechTarget, it is a development platform aimed at building server-side applications. And PCMag tells us that Node is a platform with its own web server for better control. That is certainly enough to grasp the main idea.

A brief summary would be as goes:

• Node JS is a server framework and is free
• It runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS, etc.
• Node utilizes JavaScript on the server

How does Node JS work? Taking a simple task of opening a file on a server, the sequence would be:

• A task goes to the file system
• The system is ready for the next requests
• When a file is opened and read, the system sends the content to the client

And last but not least, what you can do with Node.js?

• Generate dynamic content
• Create, open and read, or delete files on the server
• Gather and modify data in the database

10 main reasons to use Node.js

• Good for beginner developers, JavaScript is simple to learn, rich framework (Angular, Node, Backbone, Ember)
• It is fast, due to Google innovative technologies and the event loop
• Ability to keep data in native JSON (object notation) format in your database
• Multiple modules (NPM, Grunt, etc.) and supportive community
• Good to create real-time apps, such as chats and games
• Single free codebase
• Good for data streaming, thus for audio and video files, as example
• Sponsored by Linux Foundation, as well as PayPal, Joylent, Microsoft, Walmart
• Wide range of hosting options
• JS is the longest-running language, 99% of developers know some of it

Who works with it: Node cases

Showing incredible pace (close to 100% growth in use every year), Node JS has become a universal platform for web apps. Companies like PayPal, Walmart use Node for enterprise applications too. Trends building up within the Node community are micro-services, real-time applications, and the Internet of Things (IoT).

With almost 4 million users by early 2017, Node JS surely does not lack top-level companies that work with it. For instance, what was our previous reference to NASA all about? Well, this is the truth. The agency in partnership with UTC Aerospace Systems has designed an end-to-end system for live data processing. It is used in astronauts’ spacesuits and has been build with Node.js.

Conclusion

You probably ask a rhetorical question: why on Earth have we poured our souls out about Node? The answer is simple – we love both Node.js and JavaScript.

So, now you’re ready to start your own project. The last step is to hire NodeJS developers right now.