Just a few weeks until the 2021 JavaScript Full-Stack Bootcamp opens.
Signup to the waiting list!
There are tons of alternatives to Node.js when it comes to building any kind of software.
Why is Node.js a good choice?
In this post I’ll tell you some good reasons to use it.
Node.js is JavaScript
JavaScript is probably the most popular programming language in the world.
It is the only language that can run inside a Web Browser, which gives it a unique point of advantage over any other language.
With the rise of React Native, Electron and similar solutions, it’s also the only language which you can use to create web apps, frontend and backend, mobile apps, desktop apps.
It’s pretty universal, and once you master the JavaScript language in one area, your skills can be easily ported into another area and you just need to learn the environment differences (for example, how to use React Native rather than Electron, or the DOM).
This is something you will not find anywhere else.
Plus, JavaScript is an amazing and flexible language to work with.
If you already know JavaScript because you work in the browser, then it’s a no-brainer to pick Node.js.
Node.js is event driven and single threaded
What does this mean? In short, it can handle heavy load very well.
Every single Node.js program can manage a lot of concurrent connections, and still be very fast because of its non-blocking I/O nature.
This means that you have all the tools in place to build a very performant system, out of the box.
Node.js is hugely popular
This has a few side effects.
First, you’ll find the solution to any kind of problem discussed online. The community is huge and very helpful.
It’s easy to get started, and there are many resources to learn from.
Second, there is a library for everything.
The npm repository has a huge set of ready-to-use libraries, available with a simple npm install
command.
Thanks to this popularity, a vicious cycle is set up: your favorite API might only offer an official Node.js library, and other languages are not even considered, left for unofficial packages (with varying level of quality).
You can easily deploy Node.js apps
Some programming environments require a dedicated setup, even for simple projects, because no one has built an ecosystem around them.
Heroku famously made Rails applications development simple, and today in Node.js we have other solutions that are comparable.
I am thinking about Zeit Now.
When I want a place to easily set up a sample Node.js application and share it with the world, I think about Glitch (hint: it can also run private apps).
Download my free Node.js Handbook
The 2021 JavaScript Full-Stack Bootcamp will start at the end of March 2021. Don't miss this opportunity, signup to the waiting list!
More node tutorials:
- An introduction to the npm package manager
- Introduction to Node.js
- HTTP requests using Axios
- Where to host a Node.js app
- Interact with the Google Analytics API using Node.js
- The npx Node Package Runner
- The package.json guide
- Where does npm install the packages?
- How to update Node.js
- How to use or execute a package installed using npm
- The package-lock.json file
- Semantic Versioning using npm
- Should you commit the node_modules folder to Git?
- Update all the Node dependencies to their latest version
- Parsing JSON with Node.js
- Find the installed version of an npm package
- Node.js Streams
- Install an older version of an npm package
- Get the current folder in Node
- How to log an object in Node
- Expose functionality from a Node file using exports
- Differences between Node and the Browser
- Make an HTTP POST request using Node
- Get HTTP request body data using Node
- Node Buffers
- A brief history of Node.js
- How to install Node.js
- How much JavaScript do you need to know to use Node?
- How to use the Node.js REPL
- Node, accept arguments from the command line
- Output to the command line using Node
- Accept input from the command line in Node
- Uninstalling npm packages with `npm uninstall`
- npm global or local packages
- npm dependencies and devDependencies
- The Node.js Event Loop
- Understanding process.nextTick()
- Understanding setImmediate()
- The Node Event emitter
- Build an HTTP Server
- Making HTTP requests with Node
- The Node fs module
- HTTP requests in Node using Axios
- Reading files with Node
- Node File Paths
- Writing files with Node
- Node file stats
- Working with file descriptors in Node
- Working with folders in Node
- The Node path module
- The Node http module
- Using WebSockets with Node.js
- The basics of working with MySQL and Node
- Error handling in Node.js
- The Pug Guide
- How to read environment variables from Node.js
- How to exit from a Node.js program
- The Node os module
- The Node events module
- Node, the difference between development and production
- How to check if a file exists in Node.js
- How to create an empty file in Node.js
- How to remove a file with Node.js
- How to get the last updated date of a file using Node.js
- How to determine if a date is today in JavaScript
- How to write a JSON object to file in Node.js
- Why should you use Node.js in your next project?
- Run a web server from any folder
- How to use MongoDB with Node.js
- Use the Chrome DevTools to debug a Node.js app
- What is pnpm?
- The Node.js Runtime v8 options list
- How to fix the "Missing write access" error when using npm
- How to enable ES Modules in Node.js
- How to spawn a child process with Node.js
- How to get both parsed body and raw body in Express
- How to handle file uploads in Node.js
- What are peer dependencies in a Node module?
- How to write a CSV file with Node.js
- How to read a CSV file with Node.js
- The Node Core Modules
- Incrementing multiple folders numbers at once using Node.js
- How to print a canvas to a data URL
- How to create and save an image with Node.js and Canvas
- How to download an image using Node.js
- How to mass rename files in Node.js
- How to get the names of all the files in a folder in Node
- How to use promises and await with Node.js callback-based functions
- How to test an npm package locally
- How to check the current Node.js version at runtime
- How to use Sequelize to interact with PostgreSQL
- Serve an HTML page using Node.js
- How to solve the `util.pump is not a function` error in Node.js