Mastering Node.js: A Comprehensive Guide to Building Scalable Web Applications

Today, in a world full of incredible apps, some are making an exceptional image in the market — for example, Walmart, Netflix, Uber, and others. But do you know what makes them different from other apps, what is the core success factor behind their seamless working?

Well, to your knowledge, these apps are built using a ubiquitous open-source runtime environment, Node.js. But why only Node.js? The reason is JavaScript support.

In 2022, JavaScript has once again topped the charts as the most widely used programming language, according to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey.

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What’s more, the world of JavaScript tooling has undergone a significant transformation over the years, with impressive advancements that have captured the attention of both seasoned professionals and newbies alike. This has propelled Node.js and React.js to the forefront as the two most popular web technologies around.

It’s no surprise, then, that some of the world’s biggest corporations have turned to the Node.js framework to create highly scalable websites that offer exceptional user experiences. With its versatility and ease of use, Node.js is a reliable choice for anyone looking to build top-tier web applications.

In the current landscape of software development, there are certain key competencies that a Node.js developer must possess to thrive and deliver outstanding results. This article aims to explore Node.js, its business benefits, its beautiful evolution, apps that can be built on Node.js, and the cost incurred in developing an app.

So, let’s start with a quick yet self-explaining introduction.

What is Node.js?

Despite its relatively young age — just 12 years old -, Node.js has already made a significant impact in the software development industry.

In 2009, Ryan Dahl wrote the first code for Node.js, which initially only worked on Mac OS X and Linux. But what inspired Dahl to create this revolutionary technology? It was the V8 engine, developed by the Chrome browser team, which can rapidly convert raw code into machine code, delivering lightning-fast performance for JavaScript applications.

Node.js development services can leverage the cutting-edge runtime server environment that harnesses the power of JavaScript for server-side programming using asynchronous programming techniques. This free and open-source technology can be deployed on a range of platforms, including Mac OS X, Unix, and Windows.

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Node.js has come a long way since its inception, with a thriving ecosystem of frameworks, libraries, and tools. Have you ever wondered how Node.js works behind the scenes? It’s fascinating! Unlike traditional web-serving methods, which create a new thread for each connection (request) and consume system RAM until it maxes out, Node.js runs on a single thread and utilizes nonblocking I/O calls. This approach enables Node.js to handle tens of thousands of simultaneous connections efficiently, thanks to its event loop. The result? A highly scalable and lightning-fast system that can handle a massive load without breaking a sweat. Pretty impressive, right?

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But, have you ever wondered what causes the development of Node.js? If not, then you must check out its amazing evolution and how we get an amazing runtime environment like Node.js.

How did it all start?

Despite being a relative newcomer compared to the 24-year-old JavaScript and the 32-year-old Internet, Node.js has cemented its place as a key player in the world of software development, offering unparalleled speed, flexibility, and scalability for modern web applications.

Back in 2009, Ryan Dahl created Node.js, a revolutionary technology that initially only supported Mac OS X and Linux. Dahl took charge of the development and maintenance of Node.js, which was later sponsored by Joyent.

Dahl even criticized the most popular web server, Apache HTTP Server due to its limited inability to handle a large number of concurrent connections (up to 10,000 or more). Blocked code or an implied multiple execution stack in cases of simultaneous connections led to issues that needed to be resolved by writing code through sequential programming.

On November 8, 2009, at the inaugural European JSConf, Dahl introduced the Node.js project which is a unique combination of the V8 JavaScript Chrome engine, a low-level I/O API, and an event loop. This combination allows for efficient, non-blocking I/O operations, making it an ideal choice for developing scalable network applications. Since then, Node.js has become a widely adopted technology that has revolutionized the way web applications are built and deployed, empowering developers to create fast, lightweight, and scalable applications with ease.

An amazing journey of Node.js Development

The competition among browsers to provide the best performance led to significant improvements in JavaScript engines. Major browsers worked hard to make JavaScript run faster and offer better support for it. This led to the creation of Node.js at the perfect time and place. Node.js brought new approaches for JavaScript server-side development and innovative thinking that have benefited developers tremendously.

The vast support for open-source libraries, hosted mostly on the npm website, is one of the primary reasons behind Node.js’s popularity among developers. The platform supports thousands of open-source libraries, enabling developers to easily integrate features into their projects.

The Node.js community is also incredibly active, with numerous developer events and conferences, such as Node.js Interactive, Node.js Summit, NodeConf, and many others held worldwide.

To facilitate faster development of applications, web frameworks were developed by the Node.js open-source community. These frameworks include popular options such as Connect, Sails.js, Koa.js, Express.js, Feathers.js, socket.io, Derby, Hapi.js, Meteor, and many more. These frameworks make the development process faster, easier, and more efficient, allowing developers to build scalable and robust applications quickly.

Now, that you have understood how quickly Node.js escalated and modernized itself as per the changing business requirement, making it a preferable choice for developers.

But what makes Node.js unique and beneficial for each business requirement? Let’s take a look at its advantages.

Advantages of using Node.js Service

If top giants of the market are using Node.js for their scaling and seamless business operations, then Node.js must be something. To know the reasons, we debunked some of the top advantages which make Node.js a popular development choice in 2023.

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• Ensures high performance for real-time apps

Node.js stands out for its multitasking ability, thanks to its single-threaded, event-driven architecture that processes multiple concurrent requests without slowing down the system. This is achieved through its non-blocking I/O operations and event loop, which allows for speedy code execution.

It is powered by Google Chrome’s V8 engine, which breaks down Javascript functions into machine code for faster execution. Google invests heavily in V8’s performance, security, and modern JavaScript support, which in turn impacts Node.js. To further enhance performance, Google has introduced the V8 benchmark suite for faster execution, better compilers, and scaling capabilities.

GoDaddy has moved to Node.js due to high speed and managing a high volume of requests.

• Smooth scalability for modern-age apps

Node JS has helped companies improve their scalability by integrating with other technologies easily and following the Microservices architecture. This allows applications to be built in a highly fragmented fashion, with smaller components that can act independently. React JS development companies have been using Node JS extensively for this purpose in 2020, revamping old monolithic designs into more flexible and scalable systems.

Node.js enables Uber to handle its 14 million trips by creating a stateless architecture with 600 API points, utilizing smaller components that are easier to manage and build. This allows for easy upgrades when needed, making it a highly efficient solution for managing their massive scale of operations.

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• Increased productivity for PayPal

PayPal faced a lot of code duplications where teams copied and pasted the code and made minor changes for a specific country, leading to an assembly-line-like approach. Customizations for localized versions caused delays as they went to the core team’s backlog.

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To address these challenges, PayPal transitioned to a new service-oriented architecture, departing from its previous approach and mindset. To accommodate a global organization with numerous teams collaborating on a single project, they utilized Node.js and Kraken.js to scale their operations. They also introduced an open-source model that permits contributors to submit pull requests to the core GitHub repository as long as they follow the guidelines. By modularizing each component of the stack using Node.js, PayPal could rapidly launch new experiences across the organization.

• Node.js helped eBay in reducing loading time by quick caching

Node.js has provided developers with a solution to reduce the workload and repetitive execution of code through its caching module. Upon receiving a request, the initial module of a web application is instantly cached in the in-app memory. This caching mechanism allows users to access web pages with almost zero wait time, ensuring a swift browsing experience.

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• Quick prototyping

The developers at Trello, a popular Kanban-style project management tool, sought a lightweight server with fast loading speeds. Since Trello is built on Coffeescript, a language that compiles Javascript, the team preferred a server that supported Javascript nativity. They required an event-driven technology that could handle numerous concurrent requests, and that’s why they chose Node.js as their first option.

But, why they moved to Node.js?

Trello required a server with a similar Javascript-based architecture to ensure maintainability and faster development. Additionally, it needed real-time open connections to maintain speed and ensure instant updates with minimal latency.

• Improves app performance

LinkedIn, with over 690 million users, is one of the largest apps using Node.js in production. They made the switch from Ruby on Rails to Node.js for improved app performance and decreased resource usage. This was made possible by Node.js’s asynchronous request processing, which greatly enhances interface loading speeds.

How Node.js was required?

Whenever traffic increased, the server couldn’t handle the load, causing problems for LinkedIn. Multiple requests couldn’t be processed at once due to the Ruby implementation. This was because the Ruby App operated synchronously, causing heavier page loads.

• Improves website experience

As the top supermarket giant, Walmart aimed to enhance its e-commerce website’s performance and agility to cater to distributed teams. The website and mobile app draw around 80 million users per month, necessitating a sturdy system capable of handling such massive traffic. Their primary objectives were to increase loading speeds, implement an HTML-based front-end, and switch to a microservices architecture, which their current JAVA application could not provide.

But what makes Walmart choose Node.js?

Distributed teams found it challenging to work with the Monolithic JAVA web app, which required modularization. The pre-Node Javascript front-end used libraries that negatively affected the products’ searchability in the Search Engine, reducing their SEO friendliness. Additionally, Walmart’s mobile eCommerce applications encountered performance issues due to the JAVA configuration.

• Seamless features release

Yahoo Life, Yahoo Food, and Yahoo Answers all rely on Node.js, which is not surprising considering that Yahoo has been an early adopter of this technology since Node version 0.8. Node.js is utilized by Flickr, a subsidiary of Yahoo, to provide speedy and reliable delivery of high-traffic photo pages. What prompted the adoption of Node.js by Flickr?

With its content-rich platform, Yahoo needs to ensure fast loading speeds and efficient processing of user requests on a large scale. For example, Yahoo’s Flickr platform receives over 7 billion API requests, necessitating a dependable server-side processor that can handle the traffic with minimal latency and failures. To achieve this, development teams had to transition to a more Javascript-friendly platform for better backend and front-end synchronization.

Such benefits influenced businesses from across the globe to adopt Node.js as their top requirement. Thus, businesses are using Node.js for developing a variety of applications catering to different business needs leveraging the latest technologies.

So, let’s see what types of apps can be created using node.js.

Develop diverse apps with Node.js development services

With a variety of features, modules, and functionalities, developers can develop any type of app with great ease. Let’s see what are our options.

Internet of Things apps

The rise of IoT technology has paved the way for Node.js to emerge as a leading choice for companies seeking to create both public and private IoT devices. As more and more businesses embrace the power of the Internet of Things, Node.js continues to establish itself as a reliable and effective solution for driving innovation and enabling seamless connectivity.

But what Node.js has for IoT apps?

• With countless IoT devices generating massive amounts of data, Node.js proves its proficiency in handling such networks via streams. In contrast to traditional data collections like strings or arrays, Node.js streams can process data from the source and send it to the destination without needing to fit into memory.
• Its event-driven architecture manages a large volume of requests and data arrivals from IoT devices.
• Node.js has an asynchronous programming model enabling seamless process execution.

Real-time chat apps

Real-time chat enables instant transmission of messages, videos, files, and more between individuals or groups via the internet. This communication channel is made possible by tools such as instant messenger (IM) and internet relay chat (IRC), and is widely used in popular apps like WhatsApp, Google Talk, Skype, and Facebook Messenger. With its ability to facilitate both one-to-one and one-to-many chats, real-time chat has revolutionized the way we connect and communicate online.

What makes node.js perfect for real-time chat apps?

• Node.js APIs
• Compatibility with WebSocket protocol for developing web-based data streaming applications and real-time communication applications enabling two-way message exchange.

Single-page applications

Unlike traditional web apps, SPAs do not need to reload the entire page from the server every time a user interacts with the application. This results in faster response times and a more seamless browsing experience. By presenting content in an intuitive and easy-to-use format, SPA websites are designed to maximize user engagement and satisfaction.

Microservices architecture

It is a modern approach to application development that breaks an application into smaller, interchangeable modules that can communicate with each other. Each module is developed, tested, and maintained separately, and then integrated to form the application.

This methodology aims to simplify application development and maintenance, particularly for large enterprises with distributed development teams spanning multiple locations. Major companies such as Facebook, Netflix, eBay, and Amazon have already implemented microservices architecture to optimize their unique business processes.

You can use Node.js with Docker and create an API to connect Node containers with Mysql.

To help you with what other types of apps, you can easily build using Node.js, then you must see these real-world examples that are performing extremely well.

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Well, there is no limit on what type of apps can be built using Node.js. It’s up to developers’ creativity and expertise to showcase tier skills using Node.js. However, creating an app from scratch can be challenging and costly. If you are a limited-budget business, then you must know what it takes to build a fully-functioning Node.js app.

Factors affecting the cost incurred to develop a Node.js app

To determine the cost of Node.js development, there are three crucial factors to consider:

• Engagement model — you need to choose between in-house, freelance, or outsourcing. In-house developers offer more control but are expensive in the long term. Freelancers are cost-effective but lack professionalism and time management skills. Outsourcing provides the best value for money as you can get some of the best Node.js developers to work on your project.
• Expertise of the developer — programs, and applications built with Node.js requires a deep understanding of backend development and strategic thinking. Experienced developers are more expensive, but they can avoid common mistakes and work more efficiently.
• Features of the web application — each functionality or feature of the web application has an inherent cost. Complex features require intricate coding, which means more developmental hours and higher costs.
• Security Level- Although all Node.js web applications are secure, if you require high-end security levels for your enterprise-level application, it may cost more than a standard security application. For example, if you have a large organization and want to develop a powerful ERP web application, it will require high-security levels, which will increase the development cost.
• Maintenance and Support- It is common for web applications to encounter technical issues and downtime, which can affect user experience. To maintain high levels of user satisfaction, continuous maintenance, and support are necessary. These services will add to the total cost of web application development.
• Third-Party Services- Many web applications use third-party services to provide additional features and functionalities. The cost of using these services will also be included in the development cost of your web application.

When we talk about developing an app, we must know what frameworks are available and how can we utilize them with different business requirements.

To help you we have listed the most commonly used Node.js frameworks.

Best Node.js Framework

Selecting the ideal Node.js framework for our projects requires careful consideration of several critical factors. While experience plays a significant role in this process, there are some universal rules that can guide us in selecting the perfect framework for any given project. With so many frameworks available, choosing the right one can be challenging, but by weighing the key factors carefully, we can make a well-informed decision that leads to successful outcomes.

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• Express- uber, Accenture, BlaBlacar
• Meteor- Accenture, Deloitte
• Koa- gapo
• Sails- lithium, Greendeck
• Nest.js- Adidas, Neoteric, Sanofi
• loopBack.js- GoDaddy, Symantec
• Hapi- Boodle, Gozova
• Adonis.js- caravelo, synergy
• Keystone.js- sony, Vodafone
• Total.js- Trello, medium, Capitalone

Partner with OnGraph for your next Node.js app development project

Node.js frameworks may not be strictly necessary for backend development, but they can have a profound impact on development efficiency, product performance, and code quality. By leveraging pre-built templates, libraries, and middleware, developers can save valuable time on tedious tasks such as writing repetitive code and integrating with front-end frameworks.

Choosing the best Node.js development framework for a project requires careful consideration of its unique needs and characteristics. Some frameworks are better suited for handling dynamic content, while others excel at MVP development. Our team of experts always takes these factors into account when recommending a framework.

While we have our favorite frameworks, we always prioritize the product’s requirements above all else. If you’re not sure which framework is best for your project, our team is always available to offer expert advice and guidance. Contact us today for a third opinion on your project’s tech stack!