What is Node.js?
The rise in popularity of JavaScript has resulted in many improvements, and the face of web development today is very different. Things we can do on the web now with JavaScript running on both the server and the browser were impossible to imagine only a few years ago, or were encapsulated inside sandboxed environments like Flash or Java Applets.
Node.js is a server-side platform based on the JavaScript Engine in Google Chrome (V8 Engine). Ryan Dahl created Node.js in 2009, and the most recent version is v0.10.36. In a nutshell, Node.js shines in real-time web applications that use web-sockets and push technologies. What makes it so revolutionary? We now have web applications with real-time, two-way communications, where both the client and server can initiate communication, allowing them to freely exchange data, after more than 20 years of stateless-web based on the stateless request-response paradigm.
This is in direct contrast to the traditional web response model, in which the client is often the one who initiates communication. It is also built on the open web stack (HTML, CSS, and JS) and runs on the standard port 80. With all of its benefits, Node.js has become a vital part of the technology stack of many high-profile businesses that rely on it.
What this means is that Node.js isn’t a magical new technology that will take over the web development environment. Rather, it’s a forum that meets a specific need. And it’s important that you understand this. You should avoid using Node.js for CPU-intensive tasks; in reality, using it for heavy computation would negate nearly all of its benefits. Node really shines when it comes to developing fast, scalable network applications because it can manage a large number of simultaneous connections with high throughput, which translates to high scalability.
Node.js is a cross-platform runtime environment for building server-side and networking applications that is open source. Node.js programs are written in JavaScript and run on OS X, Microsoft Windows, and Linux using the Node.js runtime. Node.js also comes with a large library of JavaScript modules, which greatly simplifies the creation of Node.js web applications.
Features of Node.js
· Very Fast.
The Node.js library is extremely fast in code execution since it is based on Google Chrome’s V8 JavaScript Engine.
· Asynchronous and Event Driven.
The Node.js library’s APIs are all asynchronous, or non-blocking. It basically means that a Node.js-based server never waits for data from an API. After calling an API, the server moves on to the next one, and a notification system in Node.js called Events assists the server in receiving a response from the previous API request.
· No Buffering.
Data is never buffered in Node.js applications. The data is literally output in chunks by these applications.
· Single Threaded but Highly Scalable.
Node.js uses an event looping architecture with a single threaded model. In contrast to conventional servers, which generate small threads to handle requests, the event mechanism allows the server to react in a non-blocking manner and makes it highly scalable.When compared to conventional servers like Apache HTTP Server, Node.js uses a single threaded program that can handle a much greater number of requests.
The MIT license applies to Node.js.
Who Uses Node.js?
The following is a link to a git-hub wiki page that contains an exhaustive list of Node.js projects, applications, and companies. eBay, General Electric, GoDaddy, Microsoft, PayPal, Uber, Wikipins, Yahoo!, and Yammer are only a few of the companies on this list.
Advantages of Node.js
· Better efficiency and overall developer productivity.
· Code sharing.
· Speed and performance.
· A huge number of free tools.