
Are you looking for the best programming language, library, or framework to build a large-scale application? There are a lot of software platforms available in the market.
Node.js is a popular software platform that is full-stack and can be used for building client-side and server-side of an application. A lot of small and large companies have been using Node.js for creating games, social media platforms, instant messengers, live streaming applications, video conferencing tools, and much more. Therefore, LinkedIn chooses Node.js over Ruby on Rails recently as Node.js can be the perfect choice for developing real-time applications that require the data to be updated constantly.
Being incredibly easy to learn, Node.js development ensures faster time to market. However, if you are a startup or a small business with a short budget and strict timeframes, it is an ideal choice for MVP development. As it provides two-way hassle-free communication between client-side and server-side, it is a trusted choice of several developers and users across the globe.
What do you think is the main factor you should consider while developing a web application? Well, the major aspect of any web app development project is maintaining efficiency and gaining the maximum ROI. If you decide to choose a framework that takes more time, it will cost you more money. Being a cross-platform solution, Node.js development can be used to develop robust, scalable, and effective desktop and mobile apps. Moreover, Node.js is widely used for creating enterprise apps for small and large businesses.
Where can this web app development be used?
- Real-time chat apps
- Automation
- Data streaming apps
- Web app framework
- Browser games
- Single-page apps
Why it is a preferred choice for web app development?
There are several reasons to incline Node.js for web app development. We’ll discuss a few of them here:
- As the time taken for building web apps is lesser, Node.js can be the perfect choice for a rapid MVP project.
- The developers can plan their own structure as Node.js development offers greater flexibility to them.
- New features and tools are added by the Node.js and JavaScript community to make it future-proof and help you build flawless apps.
- In Addition, It offers a wide range of features and functionalities.
- Node.js development is considered to be a cost-effective way of testing and deploying apps using Pay as you go services.
- The apps are extremely scalable.
- Web applications developed using Node.js ensure awesome and flawless performance for HTTP and TCP protocols.
- Cloud scalability is another popular reason for choosing Node.js as it can help you to scale up or down according to the requirements and usage.
- Lightweight and flexible apps can be built with Node.js.
- There are several packages and extensions available.
- One can find cheap hosting options for Node.js business apps as compared to other platforms.
Top 5 Popular Node.js frameworks for Web Application Development
1. Express
This is the most popular framework for Node.js web app development that follows a minimalistic approach and does not require any steeper learning curve. Anyone with a basic understanding of the Node.js environment and programming skills can build web and mobile applications. High performance, better content negotiation, and MVC architectural patterns make Express.js the best choice. Moreover, It has robust routing, security features, and error handling capabilities.
2. Meteor
Meteor.js can be the ideal choice if you are looking for simple yet efficient modern web apps. This framework uses just one language and propagates automatic changes to the clients. The developers don’t need to put to make those changes. Meteor ensures high-streaming and real-time functionalities within your web or mobile app.
3. Koa
Koa is a next-gen framework that helps to build APIs easily. Being similar to Express, it offers greater freedom and lesser complexities to the developers and users. It minimizes errors and ensures a flawless app.
4. Socket.io
Socket.io is a JavaScript library that is used for creating real-time apps. Being a popular JavaScript library, Socket.io can be helpful for building chat applications like Whatsapp that run on live updates. This framework offers real-time analytics with lesser lines of code. One can also use it for developing real-time apps, multiplayer games, video conferencing apps, and others. Even live video calling apps such as Zoom may need to establish bidirectional communication between web clients and servers.
5. Nest.js
Nest.js is a progressive Node.js framework that helps to create dynamic and scalable enterprise apps. They offer great flexibility and can be the perfect example for multi-layered enterprise applications. Secondly, With extensive use of libraries, Nest offers excellent integration with other frameworks such as Express and Fastify. Nest is the perfect combination of object-oriented and functional reactive programming (FRP). It helps to boost productivity and app performance. It also helps the developers save a lot of time and effort while developing Node.js applications.
Applications of Node.js
Now that you’ve understood the benefits of Node.js and top frameworks, you may want to know where Node.js is used. The incredible features of Node.js make it a popular choice for several programmers and software development companies across the globe.
1. API
Apps that require API for enabling some type of backend to communicate with external services may choose Node.js. Secondly, all APIs of the Node.js library are asynchronous. This means that Node.js based server does not wait for an API to return the data. The server moves to the next API after calling the data. Node.js has a huge community that can help you find the right API for building different types of applications.
2. Single Page Applications (SPA) Development
Node.js is widely used for creating single-page applications that look and feel similar to desktop apps. Node.js can be the right choice for building dynamic websites, social networking platforms, and mailing solutions.
3. Streaming Web Applications
With the increasing popularity of streaming services for watching videos or listening to music, a lot of startups and established businesses have started building such streaming web apps. Giants such as Netflix use Node.js to create super-fast applications that can handle massive data streaming videos. The users can use Node.js as it has built-in streams modules to allow the mobile app owners to transmit a large volume of data in lengthy sequences. It becomes easy to encode a video without any hassles.
4. IoT App Development
IoT has gained immense popularity since the last decade and even Node.js has become a preferred choice of a lot of people across the globe. Several public and private organizations use Node.js to operate on writable and readable channels for IoT networks. Moreover, Node.js comes with an event-driven server architecture, which makes it an ideal platform for IoT app development.
5. Real-Time Web Applications
Node.js handles a lot of I/O operations for developing real-time web applications. You can create a chat room where people can easily talk to each other. You can also think of building a collaboration app that allows the employees to work on the same software at the same time.
In conclusion, Node.js is a high-performance and super-fast web framework that can be used for creating feature-rich solutions for small and large businesses. The expert Node.js developers can help you transform your ideas into a reality.