When it comes to client-side programming languages, JavaScript should be considered one of the most popular and commonly utilized. It’s mostly used for front-end web development but it’s also a valuable resource for creating cross-platform development environments.
It has become more common for JavaScript to be used for server-side programming today. With this fundamental transition in web application development, Node.js has played an essential role.
The Node.js server-side programming has several advantages, as well as a few disadvantages. So, let’s get right down to them:
Advantages of Node.js
Here are some of the most significant benefits of doing server-side programming using Node.js:
Easy Scalability
One of the key advantages of Node.js is that developers find it easy to scale applications in horizontal, as well as vertical, directions. The applications can be scaled horizontally by the addition of additional nodes to the existing system.
Moreover, Node.js also offers you the option of adding extra resources to the single nodes during the vertical scaling of the application. As a result, it is highly scalable and offers a better alternative to other JavaScript servers.
Easy to Learn
Since JavaScript is one of the most popular programming languages, most front-end developers have a good grasp of it. It becomes easier for them to start using Node.js at the backend. Node.js is easier to learn and requires less time to work with it.
Offers High Performance
Node.js interprets the JavaScript code via Google’s V8 JavaScript engine. This engine submits the JavaScript code directly into the machine code. This makes it easier and faster to implement the code effectively.
The speed of the code execution is also enhanced by the by runtime environment, as it supports the non-blocking I/O operations.
The Support of Large and Active Community
Node.js is blessed to have a large and active community of developers who keep on contributing to its further development and improvement.
Rather, groups of developers are well supported by JavaScript programmers, providing ready-made, easy solutions and codes in GitHub. It is expected that developers will initiate many developments in the future.
The Advantage of Caching
The open-source runtime environment of Node.js also provides the facility of caching single modules. Whenever there is any request for the first module, it gets cached in the application memory.
Developers don’t have to re-execute codes, as caching allows applications to load web pages faster and respond more swiftly to the user.
Offers the Freedom to Develop Apps
Another advantage that Node.js offers to developers is the freedom to develop apps and software. This is one essential feature, which remains absent in Ruby on Rails imposing certain guidelines. You can begin everything from scratch while developing applications.
js is Highly Extensible
Node.js is known to be highly extensible, which means you can customize and further extend Node.js as per the requirements.
You can also use JSON to provide the scope for the exchange of data between the web server and the client. It also is facilitated with built-in APIs for developing HTTP, TCP and DNS servers.
Drawbacks of Node.js
Well, Node.js also has some cons, which need to be necessarily discussed:
Application Programming Interface (API) is not Stable
One of the key problems that most developers encounter is the Application Programming Interface (API) keeps on changing at intervals and does not remain stable.
At times, a new API appears to have several backwards-incompatible changes. As a result, developers are forced to make changes in the accessible code bases to match the compatibility with the latest version of the Node.js API.
Does not have a Strong Library Support System
JavaScript does not have a well equipped and robust library system in comparison to other programming languages. As a result, users are forced to take the support of a common library for executing various tasks, such as Object-Relational Mapping (ORM), processing of the images, handling database operations, XML parsing, etc. This makes it difficult for developers to even implement common programming tasks using Node.js.
Asynchronous Programming Model
If you want to make applications more scalable, the requisite is the adoption of the asynchronous programming model.
However, many developers may find this programming model more difficult in comparison to the linear blocking I/O programming. Another con of asynchronous programming is that codes tend to become clumsy and programmers have to depend on nested calls.
Conclusion
Node.js is more advantageous to developers despite a few disadvantages. What’s important is the fact that it has extended the area of JavaScript application and can be used for both frontend, as well as backend, servers.
With time, more and more businesses or organizations have adopted Node.js and are getting positive results.
