Node.js is an open source, cross-platform runtime environment for developing server-side and networking applications. Node.js applications are written in JavaScript, and can be run within the Node.js runtime on OS X, Microsoft Windows, and Linux.
Node.js also provides a rich library of various JavaScript modules which simplifies the development of web applications using Node.js to a great extent.
Following are some of the important features that make Node.js the first choice of software architects.
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Asynchronous and Event Driven − All APIs of Node.js library are asynchronous, that is, non-blocking. It essentially means a Node.js based server never waits for an API to return data. The server moves to the next API after calling it and a notification mechanism of Events of Node.js helps the server to get a response from the previous API call.
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Very Fast − Being built on Google Chrome’s V8 JavaScript Engine, Node.js library is very fast in code execution.
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Single Threaded but Highly Scalable − Node.js uses a single threaded model with event looping. Event mechanism helps the server to respond in a non-blocking way and makes the server highly scalable as opposed to traditional servers which create limited threads to handle requests. Node.js uses a single threaded program and the same program can provide service to a much larger number of requests than traditional servers like Apache HTTP Server.
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No Buffering − Node.js applications never buffer any data. These applications simply output the data in chunks.
NodeJS is a rapidy growing web server technology, and Node developers are among the highest paid in the industry. Knowing NodeJS well will get you a job or improve your current one by enabling you to build high quality, robust web applications. In this course you will gain a deep understanding of Node, learn how NodeJS works under the hood, and how that knowledge helps you avoid common pitfalls and drastically improve your ability to debug problems.
