What is Node.js?.
Node.js is an open source and yet powerful JavaScript-based framework/platform built on Google Chrome’s JavaScript V8 Engine. Providing an event driven, non-blocking (asynchronous) I/O and cross-platform runtime environment for highly scalable server-side applications. Significant to build fast, scalable network applications has rich library of multiple JavaScript modules to simplify application development time.
| Maintained by | License Type | Popular Examples | Support | Updates | Developer Skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oracle Corp | Apache 2.0 License | Paypal, LinkedIn | nodesource.com,www.joyent.com,node.green | Supported for at least one year beyond the next major version release. | JavaScript library which provides the neccessary methods for both sides. |
| Often Compared to | Testing | Accessibility | Maintained by | Repository |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Java,PHP | Mocha and Chai for unit test , Sinon.JS | Pa11y accessibility test runner, built using Pa11y. | Oracle Corp. | github.com/nodejs/node |
Pros:
- Completely unopinionated, helps to start building everything from scratch. Executes basic tasks but gives only the bare minimum from a fresh install, making it less restricted.
- Written using C language; makes it really fast compared to Ruby, Python, or Perl
- Provides freedom for developers to write both the front-end as well as the back-end web application in JavaScript using a runtime environment
Cons:
- Node.js API changes frequently, making it to lack consistency and are often backward-incompatible. Programmers are forced to make changes to the existing code base to make it compatible with the latest version of the Node.js API.
- With Asynchronous programming the codes tend to become clustered, clumsy and programmers have to depend on the nested calls.
- Multithreading is not supported making it complicated for many developers to consider the technology unsuitable for complex applications.