Marcus RichardsNode.js is a JavaScript runtime environment for executing JavaScript on the back-end anything-you-want environment for programmers. Node.js development service is used to develop server apps and tools focusing on real-time applications that welcome high volumes of concurrent connections through event-driven callbacks and non-blocking I/O operations like web servers. Keep reading to learn why you should use Node.js backend development.
What Is Node.js And How It Works
Node.js is an open-source project to provide developers with an easy way to build scalable network programs run server-side in JavaScript, which usually runs in a browser as client-side code (think of it as the complete opposite of ASP). Node.js provides a runtime environment that executes JavaScript code.
It can be installed as a package on the server, which gives the ability to run JavaScript code without requiring client-side software such as a browser or Node-WebKit. It requires no other software besides Node.js itself to run and is event-driven, making it excellent for use with web applications that last just seconds before they are finished and need to be reported back to the queue again. It is designed for zero-configuration networking between applications and services. It is supported and vastly used by the technology giants.
Why Use Node.js
The main reason you decide to use Node.js mobile app backend development is to build web applications that handle lots of incoming requests in a very lightweight way. You get total control over the code, thanks to its event-driven architecture.
You use it for building backend applications because it has a huge amount of packages available to fulfill your needs in implementing various features from file system access, networking, and databases.
This ecosystem of packages is used as an advantage for rapid development when you feel the need to speed up your app’s dev cycle. It gives you the ability to develop the whole back-end app in JavaScript and code in the same language as front-end developers since there is no longer a need to translate between two different languages.
Lightweight And Fast Applications
Node.js applications are lightweight and fast, with a single process for all code in the application. This means there is no startup time, which improves the performance of your application’s performance and response times. It is asynchronous and non-blocking I/O, making it highly scalable without handling concurrency issues that can occur when handling thousands of connections on one thread.
It is a perfect solution for event-driven script-based applications, usually single-threaded. Its memory footprint is also very low, which means loading and saving files and many other operations that often occur in applications can be done much better.
Serverless And Microservice Architecture
Node.js has a microservice architecture that overcomes the issues of being single-threaded by using clustering and internal clustering sections in the code. It can keep each request related to the same node for it to run identically for others at the same time, so it can use many threads if need be. Because it is event-driven, there is no need for callbacks and non-blocking I/O either.
There are many tools provided by Node.js to improve the reliability, orchestration, deployment, and scaling of apps through its modules and applications that can be easily built as microservices.
Internet Of Things
Node.js is used by companies and organizations to build IoT applications, which are those that connect things and people without going through a centralized server or the Internet at all. It can be used for building your own IoT solutions since it does not require any protocol similar to HTTP, which means it can be configured to communicate with different devices.
Node.js is also very useful for applications that send data from sensors such as cameras, microphones, temperature detectors, barometers, and chemical sensors to the cloud and back to their clients.
Audio/Video Processing
Because it is designed to handle concurrent connections in real-time applications, Node.js can be used for video/audio processing. It is lightweight and can process the large files produced in audio/video processing and upload them to the cloud or a file system.
Node.js is also used by companies that develop apps dealing with music, such as synthesizers and sequencers because it runs fast and stable.
Node.js is also extremely useful for building websites that process several streams of media data at the same time, like 3D animation games and virtual reality (VR) applications. It works very well with OpenGL, too, outside of the browser where you have to use a different environment such as Java or C++.
Integration With C++ Code
Companies can use Node.js to integrate with code written in C++ if they want to. The way it is implemented is through a module system, which means using JavaScript is not required to be able to use these modules. This way, it can be used for writing scripts that run in the server and interact with the outside world without acquiring functionality from another language such as Java, C#, or C++.
Node.JS also supports Object Oriented Programming (OOP), and since it uses modules, you can use any OOP standard, such as Object Pascal or Java Scripting, which have OOP features.
The Bottom Line
Node.js is an open-source platform and is free to use and develop. In addition to all of its benefits, it also comes with a community that helps you resolve problems when they arise and script your apps. It can be used instead of using PHP or ASP, other languages that can do similar jobs such as streaming, file management, and networking. I hope this article gave you vast information about why you should use Node.js for backend development.
