by Welcome to the first lesson in Node.js.
In this first lesson, we would cover the following topics:
1. Overview of Node.js
Node.js is a JavaScript-based runtime. It is build on the Google Chrome’s JavaScript V8 Engine.
Find out What is the V8 Engine?
Node.js was developed in 2009 by Ryan Dahl, an American Software Engineer.
As mentioned, Node.js is a cross-platform, open-source runtime environment for building server-side and networking application. Node.js applications are actually written using JavaScript code. But then, you don’t need a different server to deploy and run the application. You can run the application using runtime provided by Node.js.
So here is the power of Node.js: ‘you can build and run applications without a server‘.
Also, Node.js provides set of JavaScript modules that simplifies the process of developing web applications.
A number of companies use Node.js in various projects. These include: Ebay, Yahoo!, Paypal, GoDaddy and Uber among others.
2. Features of Node.js
Some key features of Node.js are provided below:
Very Fast – Application built on Node.js are very fast. This because of Node.js based on the Google Chrome’s V8 Engine. So compared to other tools, Node.js is relatively faster.
Asynchronous – This means that there is not waiting for response from server. So when a API call is made, the next call could also be made without waiting for the server’s response.Therefore we can say the Node.js APIs are non-blocking.
Easy to Get – You can easily get Node.js. This is because it is released based on the MIT licence.
Single-Threaded but Scalable – Node.js uses the model of single-thread with even-looping. In this way, the serve could respond in non-blocking manner.
No Buffering – Data is not buffered in Node.js application.
3. Where to Use Node.js
You can use Node.js in the following areas:
- I/O bound applications with high user interaction
- Data Streaming applications
- Real-time data intensive applications
- Building JSON APIs or application based on JSON APIs
- Single Page Application
However, it is not recommended to use Node.js in CPU intensive applications.
To learn how to set up Node.js, Watch the video below
Very useful