What is Node JS? Advantages and Disadvantages

What is Node js? it is a server-side environment for executing JavaScript code. In fact, Node.js was created as a result of JavaScript language developers trying to develop an environment where developers can run their JavaScript code in a server-side application in addition to the browser. Prior to the introduction of Node Js, JavaScript just was a client-side language! also, see how Rayan Dahl described it Here.

In other words, Node.js is a platform based on Google Chrome’s JavaScript engine that makes it easy to create and scale network-based applications.The platform uses a non-blocking event-oriented I/O model, which reduces the pressure on the server and increases efficiency, Also, it is very convenient for running real-time data-based applications on decentralized servers. This framework provides a huge library of different JavaScript modules that greatly facilitate the development of web applications. This platform can be implemented on Windows, Linux, and Apple computer operating systems.

How is Node js different than JavaScript?

There is no difference between Node js and JavaScript web in the coding language used. The JavaScript used in browsers and Node.js is almost the same. In browsers, you have a variety of DOM / Web APIs that help you connect to the UI and allow you to access a limited amount of hardware that makes Nodejs special. it comes with many convenient APIs for developing backends, such as file system support, HTTP requests, streams, child processes, and more. Browsers provide some basic file system support or HTTP requests but they are usually limited due to security concerns.

Why should we use Node.js?

• More security against the high server load, especially when DDOS attacks occur, while other server software such as SSH remains accessible and responsive.
• Nodjias is much faster than others like PHP and Ruby.
• The most common use of Node JS is for API(Application programming interface), which allows client-side developers to access and use data.
• Low response time: Nodejs is a single-threaded and asynchronous platform. None of the I/O-related processes stop other processes. This means that you can read a file from a disk at the same time, send an email, and query on a database.
• Many web servers are based on the Threading technique, which creates a thread for each request, and as a result, part of the RAM (for example, 1 MB) is occupied by the server’s memory. The Threading technique is not suitable for tasks that require a large number of simultaneous connections. But in Node js, each request made to the web service does not create a new js process.
• The virtual machine (Google V8) in Node js, which runs JavaScript code, has a compilation feature at runtime. When this virtual machine takes JavaScript code, it compiles it into code close to the machine’s language codes at runtime.
• This allows the frequently called functions to significantly improve the speed of code execution by turning into codes.
• The ultimate reason for using Node.js is its large community of programmers and its open-source libraries. Most of the time you will need a pre-defined library that you can use and you don’t need to code for many of your basic principles and basic concepts.

The chart below shows the most important parts of Nodejs

Advantages and disadvantages of Node JS

Airbnb, LinkedIn, Walmart, Uber, and even NASA have used Node.js to produce their products. Many small and start-up companies use technology to build applications. The benefits of Node.js are innumerable, but you should also be aware of its limitations. Get a complete picture of Node.js and avoid serious developmental errors that can be costly

Where to use Node.js?

Real-time programs

It is a great option for applications that need to process large volumes of short messages that require a short delay. Such systems are called real-time (RTA) programs and can be easily developed with Node.js. Thanks to its features, Node.js is a good choice for real-time drawing/editing programs where you can see documents that have been live and instantly modified by someone else.

Fast and scalable environment

If you have a lot of requests, Ruby on Rails may not be fast enough. Node.js has proven to be somewhat faster and more scalable than Rails. Node’s ability to process large requests with low response time, as well as sharing code validations between the client and the server, makes it a great option for modern web applications that do a lot of processing on the client-side.

When might Node.js not be the best idea?

While Node.js is great for building applications in many cases, there are still some things that aren’t good and shouldn’t be used.

Heavy CPU

The first thing that comes to mind, is heavy computing. Event-driven is a non-standard I/O model that uses only one CPU core. Heavy CPU operations only block incoming requests, and providing the greatest benefit of Nodejs is useless. If you are thinking of building a heavy CPU software, try to use a different and more appropriate technology that will give you better results.

CRUD

Finally, using Node js for HTML and CRUD programs where you don’t need a separate API, and all data comes directly from the server is useless. Your app may be more scalable, but don’t expect more traffic to your app just because you’ve used this platform, in which case you’ll need to use frameworks like Ruby.

Package quality

Many JS packages are available on npm. Society is vibrant, technology is becoming more complete, and npm is currently the largest reservoir available. Software written with Node JS is highly dependent on its programmer because of the lack of a standard library for JavaScript, and scattered standards are used to write source code.

Conclusion

This platform will become one of the most important languages for business development in the near future. If you are looking, to start with Node JS, you can use our Windows or Linux virtual private server, which are fully compatible with the Node JS language and are optimized.