Node JS: is it still a leader?

What is Node.js? Can we use it on the MVP stage? What are its competitors? We’ll tell!

Advantages, scope of use, and competitors of Node.js

As we know, Node.js is a large-platform JavaScript programming language runtime that allows server-side JS administration. It is based on Chrome’s JavaScript V8 engine. With Node JS, developers can create applications in one programming language instead of using several separate server-side programming languages. It is also often used in the MVP stage. In 2020, the author of Node JS officially released a new JavaScript environment – Deno 1.0. Did Node JS live to see a competitor replace it? In this article, you will read about what Node JS and Deno 1.0 are, what are the pros and cons of Node JS, and what to expect in the future.

Top benefits

The solution was designed in 2009 by Ryan Dahl. It was a small revolution in the IT industry! Before Node JS, developers used Ruby or PHP to program servers. Node JS introduced the ability to program servers in Java Script, which greatly facilitated the work of Front-End Developers and influenced the efficiency of application development processes and UI. Its main advantage is operating outside the browser and direct cooperation with the operating system. Thanks to this, it can provide applications with operating system APIs and access to data, libraries, and even HTTP servers.

Node JS uses JS event loops to create input and output applications that can handle multiple events at the same time. This asynchronous JS processing allows the introduction of highly scalable solutions on the server code side, which allows maximum use of its processor and memory. It is thanks to these functions that Node JS works best in asynchronous application projects such as RTA and SPA. Take a look at Node.js example sites: they are impressive! What are the benefits?

Node JS is highly efficient

It has been specially designed to optimize performance and enable high scalability of server-side web applications. Therefore, it is, as it were, a solution to many problems that often occur already at the design stage of efficient applications.

Compilation with newer programming languages

JS, which uses Node, is a newer programming language than PHP, so many newer programming languages, such as TypeScript, LiveScript, and Scala JS, are easy to compile with the Node JS environment.

Wide availability

Due to its popularity, Node JS is available for Windows, Linux, MacOS, or Solaris. It is portable, so you can easily and quickly install it on the system of your choice.

Asynchronousness

Asynchronicity allows you to create unblocked server-side output and input applications, which increases its performance and shortens the working time of programmers due to the simple administration of multiple events at the same time.

Committed community

JS is indeed one of the most world-famous programming languages, and thus a huge and committed community is also developing JS frameworks and libraries, which include Node JS. If a novice programmer knows JS, he will have no difficulty learning Node, which is a readable and simple framework.

Top disadvantages of Node JS

Like any framework, Node JS has its drawbacks, but this does not mean that with the advent of the Deno 1.0 era, the Node JS part has come to an end. What disadvantages do you have to face when deciding to use Node JS?

Single-threading

It is perhaps the main disadvantage. The Node JS environment works on the basis of events, and at the time of large operations that intensively burden the processor, e.g., processing large amounts of data, an application built in the Node JS ecosystem will significantly reduce its performance or stop responding. Similarly, there is talk of Node JS UI, whose API is unstable, and with each change, developers are forced to manually make changes to the code to make it more compatible with the entire interface.

It is not properly adapted to support large multithreaded applications

Node JS in managing large applications is much more efficient than Ruby, but when performing heavy calculations, it can block events, which translates into reducing the performance of the application and slowing down its operation. Where Node JS will require the use of high computing power, it may encounter problems related to non-support for multithreaded programming.

Where is Node JS currently used?

Many companies and corporations use node JS, e.g., Airbnb, Aliexpress, Coursea, eBay, GoDaddy, Groupon, IBM, LinkedIn, MasterCard, Medium, Microsoft, NASA, Netflix, PayPal, Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter, Walmart, and Uber. Admittedly, indeed, its popularity has grown every year since 2009 and even contributed to the fact that the author of Node JS was tempted to design a new “child.” 

Can Deno 1.0 similarly revolutionize the IT industry and repeat the success of Node JS?

Deno 1.0: is it a worthy successor to Node JS?

The creator of Deno 1.0 in 2009 created Node JS, and after 11 years, he released the latest JS runtime, also based on the JS V8 engine and written in Rust. Deno is supposed to respond to Node JS problems resulting from insufficient compatibility with state-of-the-art technological requirements. What has been improved in Deno? Dahl What cared most about improving the quality of the module system and environmental safety. His decision was due to the fact that instead of forcibly fixing the problems occurring in Node, he decided that the new environment, properly adapted to modern requirements, would be a better solution. This is how Deno 1.0 was born. But for now, there are no signs it will become more popular than Node.

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