The Pros and Cons of Using Node.js
At
present, JavaScript is the much more popular than other client-side
programming languages. As a cross-platform runtime environment,
Node.js enables developers to run JavaScript on the web servers. But
Node.js is different from other commonly used JavaScript frameworks.
It interprets the JavaScript code through Google's V8JavaScript engine.
Also,
most basic modules of the open source runtime environment are written
in JavaScript. So the web developers can use Node.js to use
JavaScript for developing both frontend and backend of web
applications. However, it is also important for the web developers to
understand the major advantages and disadvantages of Node.js.
Advantages
of Using Node.js
Use
a Single Programming Language: As noted earlier, Node.js enables
developers to write server-side applications in JavaScript. So the
developers can use the runtime environment to write both front-end
and back-end of a web application in JavaScript, without using any
server-side programming language. As JavaScript is supported by each
web browser and server, it becomes easier for businesses to deploy
their web applications more effectively.
Easy
to Scale: The developers have option to scale the Node.js
applications in both vertical and horizontal manners. They can scale
the application horizontally by adding extra nodes to the existing
system. Likewise, they also have option to add more resources to
individual nodes while scaling the Node.js application vertically.
These options make Node.js more scalable than other JavaScript frameworks available in the market.
Delivers
Improved Performance: Node.js executed JavaScript code through
Google's V8 JavaScript engine. The engine compiled the code written
in JavaScript into machine code directly. So the code is executed in
a faster and more efficient way. Also, the runtime environment
increases the code execution speed significantly by supporting
non-blocking I/O operations.
Supports
Caching: The open source runtime environment further supports
caching of individual modules. Each time a module is requested for
the first time, it is cached in application memory. Hence, the
application can load the cached modules quickly without requiring the
module code to be re-executed. The caching feature enables the
application to load web pages and respond to user requests more
quickly.
Supports
Commonly Used Tools: While using Node.js, the developers have
option to take advantage of several commonly used tools. For
instance, they can test the source code of Node.js application
repeatedly using Jasmin and similar JavaScript unit testing frameworks. Likewise, they can specify and install project
dependencies more efficiently by taking advantage of a robust package
manager like npm. Also, they have option to use grunt as an efficient
task runner for the project.
Highly
Extensible: In addition to supporting several commonly used web
development tools, Node.js is also highly extensible. Its open source
nature further makes it easier for programmers to customize and
extend Node.js according to their specific needs. Also, they can use
JSON to facilitate data exchange between the web server and the
client. Despite being lightweight, Node.js comes with built-in APIs
for developing HTTP, TCP, DNS and similar servers.
Facilitates
Real-Time Application Development: Node.js is used widely by
developers for building real-time and multi-user applications like
games and chats. The runtime environment manages many concurrent
connections efficiently. Similarly, it takes care of multi-user
requirements through event loop. It further uses websockets simplify
and speedup bidirectional communication between the web server and
the client. As the websockets run on TCP, the overhead on HTTP remain
unchanged.
Disadvantages
of Using Node.js
Lack
of Robust Libraries: Unlike other modern programming languages,
JavaScript lacks a strong standard library. The users also do not
have any option to avail common libraries for image processing,
object-relational mapping (ORM), database operations, and XML
parsing. Many developers even find the available JavaScript to be
unstable and inadequate. Hence developers often find it difficult to
accomplish common programming tasks while using Node.js.
Unstable
Application Programming Interface (API):
Many programmers complain that Node.js API keeps changing at frequent
intervals. Sometimes the new API comes with a number of
backwards-incompatible
changes. The backwards-incompatible changes make it essential for
programmers to make changes to the existing code base to make it
compatible with the latest version of Node.js API.
Asynchronous
Programming Model: To
enhance scalability, Node.js requires programmers to adopt an
asynchronous programming approach. Many developers find the
asynchronous programming model to be more complicated than linear
blocking I/O programming. Also, the model makes the code look messy
and compels coders to rely on nested callbacks.
Not
Suitable for Large and Complex Web Applications: At
present, Node.js does not support both multi-threaded programming. So
it queues the incoming requests and executes them sequentially at the
time of processing long
running tasks. The process increases the time required by an
application to respond to user requests. Likewise, many programmers
find it difficult to use the runtime environment for computational
intensive tasks.
On
the whole, the JavaScript developers can take advantage of the features of
Node.js to write a variety of server-side and networking applications
and real-time Web APIs in JavaScript. But it is also important for
users to keep in mind major shortcomings of the open source runtime
environment to take advantage of its features effectively.
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