What Is Node.JS And Why Should One Hire Node.JS Developer For Futuristic App Development?

What is Node.JS?

Node.JS is an open source cross-platform to create cost-effective, large-scale applications for your business. Node.JS can be used in developing highly scalable, data-intensive, real-time back-end services.

It is being used by some bigger companies like PayPal, LinkedIn, Uber, Netflix, Walmart, Trello, Medium, eBay, NASA, Groupon, Microsoft and so on.

Here are in-depth examples of PayPal & Netflix’s Use of Node.JS

• PayPal was the first one to use Node.JS for its application development. 

Earlier, PayPal built their application with JAVA on the front end and JavaScript on the user’s side. 

After that they started building up the prototyping with JAVA and Node.JS both, just to try and check out how Node.JS works and Node.JS was successful to impress PayPal.

On the one hand a team of 5-6 employees was assigned to develop a prototype with JAVA and on the other hand a team of 2 employees was assigned to the same task using Node.JS. 

The team developing a prototype using Node.JS could make it almost in halftime than the time taken by the JAVA team and they found one more thing, applications built with Node.JS works faster than those built or developed using JAVA and as a result, PayPal got doubled the number of request surf per second.

• Netflix is another example where Node.JS is being used. 

In earlier days, Netflix built up its web application using JAVA server side and JavaScript on the front end side, too. 

So the developer had to have an understanding of both languages to code it twice and the other task needed to be done twice like, such as compilation, finding bugs and debugging them. 

Netflix moved to Node.JS because only one-time coding is needed so every work gets divided in half. No two times compilation or debugging the errors.

The performance offered by Node.JS is better than the JAVA, especially in building up and starting up time. Plus, one more benefit is, one can easily build up a single-page application using Node.JS without any complexity.

Some of the technical objects of Node.JS:

Threading

• Node.JS operates in a single thread
• Node.JS uses non-blocking I/O calls

V8

• Node.JS allows the support of thousands of concurrent connections without getting errors.
• V8 is the JavaScript execution engine built for Google Chrome and open-sourced by Google in 2008
• Written in C++, V8+ complies with JavaScript source code to native machine code instead of interpreting it in real-time.

NPM (Node.JS Package Management)

• It installs Node.JS programs from the NPM registry.
• Organizes the installation and management of 3rd party Node.JS programs.
• As it’s not the same as JavaScript, it installs codes and manages code dependencies from the command line.

Unified API

• Node.JS can be combined with a browser, a database that supports JSON data and it’s for a unified JavaScript development stack.

Event Loop

• Node.JS registers itself with the operating system so the OS gets notified if it gets issues and calls back.

Development libraries of Node.JS:

1. Mocha.js: It’s a testing framework and it allows us to test in both console as well as in the browser.

2. Express.js: It’s basically to develop effective mobile and web applications. It’s the minimal framework for web development using Node.JS and Express.js.

3. Passport.js: Passport.js is an authentication tool for Node.JS. It provides us with a range of 300 different ways for authenticating our website or app.

4. Socket.io: It is the library that enables cross-browser bi-directional communication between two web servers. It is extremely proficient in developing real-time apps across all web browsers and most mobile devices. It is one of the most rapid and reliable real-time engines.

5. Meteor.js: It is the framework that is implemented for the rapid prototyping of JavaScript apps.

6. Math.js: As from the name itself you can guess, it’s the library which contains mathematical functions provided by JavaScript and Node.JS.

7. Mongoose: It’s an object data modeling (ODM) library that integrates both MongoDB and Node.JS.

8. Protactor.js: It’s an end-to-end testing framework. Which is used for functional testing in AngularJS applications.

9. Async.js: The processing and execution technique of JavaScript is a little complicated, and it follows a certainly predetermined algorithm. Async.js is a library function that is used to synchronize the data that is being executed.

10. Moment: It is a JavaScript date library that is used for validating, converting, manipulating and formatting dates. The moment was primarily designed to work in both Node.JS and in the web browser. Hence, the codes and unit tests run must work in both these environments.

Why Choose Node.JS?

These are some of the main reasons why developers choose to work with Node JS:

• Easy Scalability
• Real-Time Web Applications
• Easy to Learn and Code
• Easy Data Streaming
• Hosting Support
• Corporate Support

Let us discuss it in more detail.

Why use Node.JS for your backend?

Node.JS provides a JavaScript runtime environment built on a V8 engine plus it’s a single-threaded environment which runs faster.

Node.JS uses an event-driven and non-blocking I/O model which makes it a lightweight, speedy and efficient performer.

Some cases are real-time applications (live gaming, voting polls, chat boxes), single-page application development, and generating live reports for data entry.

Why use Node.JS for your front end?

Whether we know it or not, we are using Node.JS in a day to day life regularly. 

Every day knowingly or unknowingly we are running it. Like we have automated some tasks for our daily life like to-do lists, reminders or some chat boxes we use.

Tools like Grunt, Gulp, and Brower have leveraged the capabilities of Node.JS to improve our software development.

But yes Node.JS was built to use it as a server-side runtime environment so there is not much to front-end development.

What type of applications can be developed using Node.JS?

Node.JS is known for its high scalability and real-time web applications. Also, Node.JS is supported by many popular hosting providers, so it is easy to develop and host an application or website with Node.JS

Here are some types of applications that you can develop using Node.JS

• IoT Applications
• Real-time Chat Apps
• Complex Single Page Application
• Real-time Collaboration Tools
• Streaming Apps
• Fintech Apps
• Game Apps
• E-Learning Apps
• ERP/CRM Softwares

And many more. 

How can you hire a Node.JS developer?

If you want to hire a Node.JS developer, Coruscate is the perfect technology partner for your mobile and web application development.

For example, our client, Loan Studio, asked for a mobile application, which includes 7 types of loan products including home loans, car loans, and machinery loans.

• These individual loans require a different set of documents and follow different processes to get approval.
• The to and fro involved in processing a loan is high.
• When your loan repayment period is over, you need to get NOC from the bank to mark the loan closure.
• You are seldom aware of the loan interest rates, the new laws, etc. pertaining to the loans
• The users are not very pros about the banks that make loans easy
• The client wanted a system that could handle end-to-end loan processing.

So we offered them an application based on Node.JS as a solution to help processing in an easier way.

• Pre-defined checklist for the individual loan.
• The user can upload the required documents.
• Validation of the documents.
• CIBIL score and based on loan type suggestions on where to apply.

During the development phase, we got one error like, already the application is being developed in a static manner and later on they asked for a dynamic one. So with Node.JS changing the codes and the needed stuff was an easier and not a tedious job.

Our clients ask for PHP or JAVA-based developed applications but then by advising them based on our previous delivered solution and the benefits of Node.JS along with the features, they make up their minds to get it done in Node.JS.

Our technical team is always happy to look into your requirements and figure out the right solution. At Coruscate, We have an experienced team of developers, data scientists, UI UX designers, QA engineers and business analysts.

This team knows all the ins and outs of the app or software development and deployment process. If you have any ideas or want to develop an app then you can Contact Us Here!