{"id":21,"date":"2019-03-19T14:18:20","date_gmt":"2019-03-19T14:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kindsonthegenius.com\/nodejs\/?p=21"},"modified":"2019-09-22T07:01:12","modified_gmt":"2019-09-22T07:01:12","slug":"01-node-js-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kindsonthegenius.com\/nodejs\/01-node-js-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Node.js – Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the first lesson in Node.js.<\/p>\n

In this first lesson, we would cover the following topics:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Overview of Node.js<\/li>\n
  2. Features of Node.js<\/li>\n
  3. Where to Use Node.js<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    1. Overview of Node.js<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    Node.js is a JavaScript-based runtime. It is build on the Google Chrome’s JavaScript V8 Engine.<\/a><\/p>\n

    Find out What is the V8 Engine<\/a>?<\/p>\n

    Node.js was developed in 2009 by Ryan Dahl,<\/a> an American Software Engineer.<\/p>\n

    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.<\/p>\n

    So here is the power of Node.js: ‘you can build and run applications without a server<\/em>‘.<\/p>\n

    Also, Node.js provides set of JavaScript modules that simplifies the process of developing web applications.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    A number of companies use Node.js in various projects. These include: Ebay, Yahoo!, Paypal, GoDaddy and Uber among others.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    2. Features of Node.js<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    Some key features of Node.js are provided below:<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Very Fast<\/strong>\u00a0– 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.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Asynchronous<\/strong> – 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.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Easy to Get<\/strong> – You can easily get Node.js. This is because it is released based on the MIT licence.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Single-Threaded but Scalable<\/strong> – Node.js uses the model of single-thread with even-looping. In this way, the serve could respond in non-blocking manner.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    No Buffering<\/strong> – Data is not buffered in Node.js application.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    3. Where to Use Node.js<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    You can use Node.js in the following areas:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • I\/O bound applications with high user interaction<\/li>\n
    • Data Streaming applications<\/li>\n
    • Real-time data intensive applications<\/li>\n
    • Building JSON APIs or application based on JSON APIs<\/li>\n
    • Single Page Application<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

       <\/p>\n

      However, it is not recommended to use Node.js in CPU intensive applications.<\/p>\n

       
      \nTo learn how to set up Node.js, Watch the video below
      \n