An Introduction to Node.js

• What Is Node.js?
• It has a lot of definitions, we can say that it is a JavaScript runtime built on Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine or you can say that it is an event-based, non-blocking, asynchronous I/O runtime that uses Google’s V8 JavaScript engine and libuv library.
• The V8 engine is the open-source JavaScript engine that runs in Google Chrome and other Chromium-based web browsers, including Brave, Opera, and Vivaldi.
• The creator of Node Ryan Dahl.
• He enhanced node.js with various features, such as a file system API, an HTTP library, and a number of operating system–related utility methods.
• So, here is a new definition for Node.js which is a program we can use to execute JavaScript on our computers.

  Node Binaries vs Version Manager

• To install Node.js, you can use the official website for Node.js or you can use a version manager instead.
• Version Manger is a program that allows you to install multiple versions of Node and switch between them.
• The advantages of using a version maneger:
  • Negates potential permission issues when using Node with npm.
  • Lets you set a Node version on a per-project basis.
• You can check that Node is installed on your system by opening a terminal and typing node -v.
• Node has excellent support for ECMAScript 2015 (ES6) and beyond.
• You can write your JavaScript using the latest and most modern syntax and you don’t generally have to worry about compatibility issues if you’re only targeting one runtime.
• Node comes bundled with a package manager called npm.
• What Is Node.js Used For?
• It can be used for anything from bundling your JavaScript files and dependencies into static assets, to running tests, or automatic code linting and style checking.
• JavaScript framework: React or Angular.
• Node.js is the first implementation to gain any real traction, and it provides some unique benefits, compared to traditional languages.
• The server has to wait for the database lookup to complete before it can move on to processing the result.
• If new requests come in while this is happening, the server will spawn new threads to deal with them.
• The most common way to support more connections is to add more servers.
• Node.js is an event-driven, which means that everything that happens in Node is in reaction to an event.
• Node’s execution model causes the server very little overhead, and consequently it’s capable of handling a large number of simultaneous connections.
• The traditional approach to scaling a Node app is to clone it and have the cloned instances share the workload.
• Node runs in a single thread does impose some limitations.
• Node is particularly suited to building applications that require some form of real-time interaction or collaboration.
• It’s also a good fit for building APIs where you’re handling lots of requests that are I/O driven.
• Node.js is aside from speed and scalability, an often-touted advantage of using JavaScript on a web server.