There are a number of reasons why NodeJS best services mobile applications. They includes faster response time in chatting, real-time and queued responses as we discussed earlier in other posts. However, it also can be used for web-based applications if used properly.

SERVER-SIDE WEB APPLICATIONS

While it was clearly built to address mobile, Node.js with Express.js can be used to create classic web applications on the server-side. While possible, the request-response paradigm means Node.JS would be carrying around rendered HTML.

There are arguments both for and against this including:

If your application doesn’t have any CPU-intensive computation, you can easily build it in Javascript from top-to-bottom, even as far down to the database level. You must use JSON storage Object DB like MongoDB in order to accomplish this, but it does ease the development significantly. (including hiring). You should consider Offshore Development according to your requirement.

Crawlers receive a fully-rendered HTML response which helps in SEO.

Unfortunately, any CPU-intensive computation will block Node.JS responsiveness, so a threaded platform is a better approach.

Using Node.js with a relational database is still difficult. If you’re trying to perform relational operations use Rails, Django, or ASP.Net MVC instead.
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Let’s talk about why it is not necessarily the best solution for web applications.

SERVER-SIDE WEB APPLICATION W/ A RELATIONAL DB BEHIND

The relational DB tools for Node.js are still in a kind of a beta phase, they’re somewhat basic and not very pleasant to work with. I suspect that in future updates developers will address this issue, however, reports suggest it won’t be anytime soon as the 2.0 version set to be released this year is focusing even more on the mobile aspects of it. Let’s hope that it is addressed in future updates.

HEAVY SERVER-SIDE COMPUTATION/PROCESSING

When it comes to heavy computation, Node.js is not the preferred platform. In general, any CPU-intensive operation cancels the throughput benefits that NodeJS because any incoming requests will be blocked while the thread is occupied with the computation.

Node.js is single-threaded and uses only a single CPU core. There is still work to be done by the Node core team in the form of a cluster module.In the past few posts, I have discussed Node.js in detail and while developers do have minor issues with it, most of them are due to the blocking operations.

In fact, about —99% of the reasons are a direct result of the failure to understand this concept. If developers better understood this one small detail, there would be very few issues.

All in all, NodeJS is an amazing platform and one we highly recommend using if you want to create fast and scalable network applications.

Why use Node.js? If you’re not creating CPU intensive operations nor accessing any blocking resources, you will benefit from the speed, reliability and real-time integration. Any more questions?

Similar to Ruby Gems, NPM is a set of reusable modules, publicly shared via an online repository.

A complete list of these packaged modules can be found on the NPM website npmjs.org, or by using the tool that is automatically installed with it.

The best part of NodeJS is that developers can publish their own module and these will be listed and available in the repository. This “sharing” eliminates the need for having to code things that have already been created.

We will discuss the various modules and features of NodeJS as we move forward, but I wanted to simply mention some of the most popular ones:
Express.js for Node.js is the standard for the majority of its applications.

Connect

Connect is an extensible HTTP server framework for a collection of high performance “add-ons” known as middleware and is the core foundation for Express.js.

Socket.IO & SockJS is a server-side component of the two most common web sockets.

One of the most popular templating engines, JADE is inspired by HAML, a default in Express.js.

MongoDB (mongo & mongoJS) wrappers provide the API for MongoDB object databases.

Redis is the client library.

The CoffeeScript compiler allows developers to write their own Node.js programs, using Coffee – of course.

Probably the most versatile and most used utility for ensuring that a script runs continuously even in the worst state forever lives up to its name.

Node.js really shines with real-time applications, chatting and queued responses because it is faster, lightweight and less restricting.
As you have no doubt realized by now, I simply love it, to say the least.

In my opinion, it’s true benefit is found in the fact that business owners will be able to develop advanced user-friendly web and mobile interactions with its clients and partners. This can greatly improve its chances of success online and help create better marketing goals and objectives. At any given moment, brands will be able to connect with, track and know exactly what its customers are doing in real-time.

NodeJS has literally brought the customer back into the store!

Many web-based applications running on the web today were made possible as a result of JavaScript’s object-oriented programming. JavaScript makes coding seem like child’s play in comparison to the older “boxy” environments of Flash and Java Applets. Javascript has been around for quite some time, but like a fine wine, it seems to get better with age.

This made simple web changes difficult, expensive and time-consuming. This modular environment allows developers to isolate and fix problems without having to directly affect the entire framework. While it is a bit more complex than this, you get the general idea of how important NodeJS is to the future of web technologies.

What does all this mean exactly?

It means that developers can finally create user-friendly web applications that produce real-time, two-way connections. The client and its server can talk to one other in order to exchange data freely, quickly and easily.

Think of the server and client as a doorway.

In the past, the client would always initiate the communication – knock on the door if you will. If the server took too much time to open the door or didn’t open it, communication to the browser was not very realistic, streamline or elaborate. Picture that very same door as being a revolving door where both the client or server can open it, walk through and talk to one another. Imagine how much faster and more effective the results would be.

The introduction of NodeJS resulted in a better response time, streamline browsing, and an all-around better user experience, especially for mobile devices.
Developers can spend time working on making better web applications instead of having to spend time fixing them.

There is no telling what amazing things will be possible in the future with better speed, communication and error control.

Why would you want to use NodeJS?

Javascript is a huge programming language. NodeJs is just an added feature of it and understanding this concept is essential to web development success.

It seems that many developers know how to use it, want to use it. But they just do not understand the reasons why they need to use it.

Node.js is not the best solution for CPU-heavy operations. In fact, using it for this purpose will actually decrease its usefulness.

Read more about Content Management System.

How does it actually work

Traditional communications meant that every time a client made a request to the server.Then, it had to spawn a new thread taking up a great deal of RAM. When too many requests came at the same time, it could cause the server to time-out. Node.js operates on a single-thread (revolving door), using non-blocking input and output.

If you want to create new and exciting web applications that are interactive, user-friendly and quick to load. Then NODEJS is what you will need.

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