The tech world is ever-changing. With increased internet penetration, every business needs a website and web applications. Each company has a different need, and due to this, no technology suits all.
Multiple technologies exist to serve the comprehensive problem statements of the world, and one such technology is NodeJS. If you are a software business owner who is looking to build excellent web applications, then NodeJS is the language you should choose and hire node.js developers for the same. In the upcoming sections, we will discuss how NodeJS came to light and why you should use it for your enterprise software development.
So let’s start with the brief history and background of NodeJS.
Brief History:
Ryan Dahl visited the first European JSConf in 2009 and changed the world with the introduction of NodeJS. JSConf is an annual event for JavaScript developers where developers come together to discuss new developments in JavaScript and its frameworks and network with fellow developers and open-source contributors.
Ryan Dahl had conceptualized NodeJS before JSConf, and according to him, it was the best place to showcase NodeJS, as it would help him gain much popularity and support for the framework.
Having known about the history of NodeJS, it’s better to understand why there was a need to develop this framework.
Why Node JS Was Needed?
Before the development of NodeJS, JavaScript had been in the market for more than 2 decades, and all this time, it was only used on the client side.
JavaScript has helped developers to make websites interactive and dynamic with the help of client-side processing and rendering. But it was not all the language could do. JavaScript is known by almost all developers, and this struck an idea in Ryan Dahl’s mind.
It was to create JavaScript in a way that it could be used on the server side too. While it was pretty ambitious, ECMA standards had already introduced OOPs and other concepts in JavaScript that made things easier for Ryan Dahl and his team.
They created NodeJS so that developers could know just one language and use it in the front and backend both. This became an instant hit, and developers all around the world quickly adopted NodeJS to write their server-side applications.
As many developers use NodeJS, finding resources in this technology is more effortless. If you are a company owner who is building enterprise software, the next section is just for you. Going forward, we will discuss why you should use Node.Js for enterprise software.
Why You Should Use Node JS For Enterprise Software?
Superb Performance
One of the biggest reasons that have drawn wide adoption of NodeJS is its excellent performance. With a non-blocking IO model and Chrome’s V8 JavaScript runtime under the hood, NodeJS performs at par with purely backend languages like Java, Python, and Go.
NodeJS applications run on a single thread, and they are event-driven. The non-blocking IO model ensures that the main thread is never stopped, and execution is taken as and when requests are received.
If any request needs extra resources, it is sidelined until it completes and communicates with the external resources on its own, and once it is completed, the request returns to the main thread from where it is returned. While the request is sidelined, NodeJS goes on to serve the subsequent request that comes in and does all this asynchronously.
All these things add up to the performance of NodeJS and make it an excellent backend language. In certain situations, NodeJS has also performed as well as languages like C and C++. So if you are looking for superb performance on your backend servers, NodeJS is the way to go.
Makes Teamwork Easier
NodeJS is built on JavaScript, so any developer with JavaScript knowledge can work on the projects. NodeJS is easier to learn, and as the same language is used in the front and backend, teamwork becomes relatively easier.
You can use any modern JavaScript-based frontend framework, and developers with enough knowledge of server-side development and scripting can pick up working with NodeJS. Moreover, this also allows you to have a flexible team that does not have defined roles.
You may hire full-stack JavaScript developers, and that’s all you need to build a complete web application using the JavaScript ecosystem and NodeJS.
Large Community and NPM Support
Community support is a big thing for developers. There is hardly any developer who can write completely bug-free code and who does not need any help while coding. Running into problems while coding something is natural, and that’s why having community support counts, as it helps you get help quickly.
When the language has an established community, it will have many experts that can help you, and there will be enough documentation on every aspect of the language.
NodeJS also has the added benefit of the Node Package Manager, which is an open-source repository for millions of libraries and modules. The NPM repository helps developers to find ready to use, and plug and play libraries that eliminate reinventing the wheel and promote code reusability.
It is one of the most full repositories with modules that enhance NodeJS functionalities or allow developers to focus on their elementary business problems rather than writing everything from scratch.
If you are looking to build something fast and innovatively, you should use NodeJS because of the excellent npm support and large and helpful community.
Support For Microservices and MVC
Microservices and MVC architecture have helped numerous businesses build excellent applications. Microservices will help you build distributed and resilient applications that cannot be down under any circumstances.
Microservices architecture enables you to break down your backend into smaller independent parts that may interact with each other. With this structure, you can keep the code that belongs to one feature together and separate it from other things.
On the other hand, NodeJS also has support for MVC architecture. By following this architecture, you can separate your business logic and presentation logic in the app and provide intermediaries that facilitate seamless communication between the front end and back end without exposing any business logic.
Building modern applications that sustain all types of usage and loads is pretty easy when you use NodeJS with microservices or MVC architecture.
Easy To Learn
Anyone with a knack for programming and knowledge of JavaScript can begin learning NodeJS. The language is relatively easy if you have an understanding of ES6 JavaScript syntax, the basics of JavaScript, asynchronous programming, event-driven models, and any other backend language.
If you know the above-discussed things well, you can learn NodeJS pretty quickly and start working on your full-stack JavaScript applications. To add to this, there is excellent documentation for the language and tons of tutorials that make your learning journey pretty easy. Also, there are established forums where you can seek help whenever you are stuck too.
Cross Platform
A significant benefit of NodeJS is that you can serve multiple platforms from a single codebase. Moreover, you can host your NodeJS applications on any kind of OS. NodeJS is cross-platform, and whether you host it on Mac OS, windows, or Linux systems, the performance will almost be the same.
Conclusion:
NodeJS is an excellent choice when you are looking to serve a wide variety of platforms.
If you are building enterprise software, all these reasons are enough to get you started using NodeJS. There are many more reasons and benefits to using the latest NodeJS features, and you’ll begin realizing them once you leverage this language well.
FAQs
Why is Node.js good for the back-end?
Node.js is the most popularly used back-end run-time environment for building sturdy, high-performing, and scalable back-ends. Its features like non-blocking, event-driven servers and the V8 JavaScript Engine of Google Chrome produces high-ranking, lightweight, fast enterprise-grade web solutions with desired results.
What are the advantages of using Node.js for enterprise software?
Using Node.js for your enterprise software makes it easy for JavaScript-based server-side and front-end development. It also provides the desired scalability. Thus, saving you time, effort, and money on your project.
Name popular Enterprise apps that are using Node.js.
PayPal, Netflix, LinkedIn, Microsoft, NASA, and Walmart, to name a few are the most popular enterprise apps that have used Node.js in their tech stack.