Node.js rose to popularity due to being fast, simple, powerful, and flexible. This technology is preferred by developers worldwide since it can aid in resolving numerous issues including current and predicted business and user needs. It has become a norm to use Node.js in Multinational corporations and major players in the industry. Before we go any further we need to define Node.js.
What is Node.js?
Node.js is an open-source server-side runtime environment built on Google Chrome’s JavaScript V8 Engine, created for building fast and scalable internet applications. In the simplest words, it is a JavaScript runtime that provides developers with an undemanding, swift, and contemporary way to execute code in their local environment.
Types of Apps built with Node.js
It is no secret that Node.js is the preferred runtime environment by developers hence a plethora of applications, social networks, and teamwork solutions have been released using Node.js. The following are types of apps you can create with it.
· Single-page applications
The single-page app (SPA) is a lightweight web application that consists of one page only. For example, Gmail or Twitter are SPAs. These pages take a bit longer than usual since all the content gets downloaded upon the preliminary load. The advantage of this is that the app responds instantaneously to the user’s actions since there is no need to connect to the server. Another plus point is that Single-page applications automatically adjust to any platform and screen. Plus users can work without an internet connection.
· Real-time applications
These types of applications are those which react instantly to a user’s actions, this includes chats and games. Node.js is scalable, and it allows handling a large number of real-time users. One of the most appealing features of Node.js is the ability to perform several requests concurrently which makes Node.js an ideal choice for real-time apps.
· Location-based applications
2020 was the year of location-based services. The ability to provide real-time updates, data sharing, and asynchrony are the main advantages of Node.js for these applications.
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· Streaming applications
Node.js is ideal for streaming since it can easily handle real-time data streams. Furthermore, it provides a quick data organization between the server and the client. Consequently, users get a better experience overall due to the minimal delay.
These are just a few popular applications that use Node.js.
1. Paypal
This is a money-exchanging platform that enables users to carry out transactions online efficiently and promptly in more than 100 currencies across more than 200 markets. It has been reported that in 2012, there were 184 million active users on the platform.
Paypal uses Node.js for the user-facing side of its web application. Jeff Harrel, Senior Director of Payments Products and Engineering at PayPal explains why they prefer using Node.js in the following statement, “NodeJS helps us solve this (the boundary between the browser and server) by enabling both the browser and server applications to be written in JavaScript. It unifies our engineering specialties into one team which allows us to understand and react to our users’ needs at any level in the technology stack”.
Great improvements can be observed after using Node.js; the application is almost twice as fast when loading on the web, with 33% fewer lines of code and 40% fewer files compared to their previous Java-based application.
2. Netflix
Netflix is the biggest provider of video streaming worldwide, this includes movies and series which are available in almost 190 countries. It has been reported there are over 81 million subscribers worldwide.
The user interface on Netflix’s website is entirely built with Node. The engineers did this because by using Node, they can deliver an ultra-fast, modular, and lightweight application. Moreover, Netflix’s web app load time has been reduced by 70%. Since Node was so successful, the company decided to move the entire data access layer to Node.
3. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is one of the biggest social networks that deal with professional networking and career development. Reportedly, this platform has over 675 million members in 200 countries and regions worldwide and is currently available in 24 languages.
The server-side of LinkedIn’s mobile app is powered by Node.js. After implementing Node, the application has better performance, consumes lower memory, and is 20 times faster than the previous Ruby on Rails-based version. Additionally, resource utilization was greatly improved, cutting down the number of servers needed to run the mobile app by a factor of 10.
4. Uber Technologies, Inc
Uber ushered in the era that changed transportation for good. It is one of the biggest transportation network companies known for its ride-hailing taxi app. Uber is reportedly available in 85 countries and over 900 cities worldwide.
This is one of the first companies to adopt Node.js full production as it built a massive matching system on Node.js. There was a drastic improvement in performance which includes information being processed quickly, the optimized operational speed of the app, and errors that could be addressed immediately without a restart.
5. eBay
eBay is an American-based online shopping website known for its auctions, consumer-to-consumer, and business-to-consumer sales. This has become increasingly popular as the years pass and in 2019 there were around 183 million users.
Senthil Padmanabhan, the Principal Web Engineer at eBay, said in a statement, “We had two primary requirements for the project. The first was to make the application in real-time as possible–i.e., maintain live connections with the server. The second was to orchestrate a huge number of eBay-specific services that display information on the page–i.e.” After the implementation of Node.js improved speed could be observed as well as transparency and control.
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Wrap up
Node.js is a scalable solution for app development. It is used by multiple companies due to its numerous advantages which include high performance, easy scalability, highly extensible, and better efficiency. The aforementioned applications are a testament to their advantages. Due to the improved performance, the number of users increases each year at an exponential rate. Node.js is the solution you have been looking for. It allows you to focus on new innovative ideas to reinvent your application rather the fixing mundane issues.
