Node.js - Developers Choice For Real-Time App Building

What is Node.js?

A server-side platform – it is built on Google Chrome JavaScript Engine, V8, developed to build fast and scalable network applications. It uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient, which is ideal for developing data-intensive, real-time applications that can run across distributed devices.

Important features of Node.js:

• Asynchronous and event-driven - All APIs of the Node.JS library is asynchronous or non-blocking, meaning that a Node.JS server does not wait for an API to return data. A notification mechanism of Events of Node.js helps the server get a response from the previous API.
• Fast - Code execution is very fast using the Node.JS library.
• Single-threaded and highly scalable - Node.js uses a single-threaded program that can serve more requests than a traditional server like Apache HTTP server. Since Node.js uses a single-threaded looping model with event looping, it helps make the server highly scalable.
• No buffering - Node.js applications don't buffer data; the data output is in chunks.

What are real-time apps?

Real-time applications operate within an immediate time frame, sensing, analyzing and acting on streaming real-time data. However, it contrasts with database-centric applications that store data for future analysis. Most real-time applications rely on an event-driven architecture for asynchronous real-time streaming data processing.

Features of real-time apps:

• High situational awareness
• Leverage IoT devices and sensors
• Better decision-making capabilities
• Greater operational responsiveness
• High scalability
• Low latency

Instances of the real-time app;

• VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol
• eCommerce transactions
• Community storage solutions
• Instant messaging
• Video calling
• Online gaming and more

Why is Node.js the best option for building real-time apps?

• Node package manager - Node package manager, or NMP, is a hub of pre-built libraries that can be used for developing particular cases. Building real-time apps using Node.js becomes faster by using the ready-made code components rather than building the code from scratch.
• Speed - The event-based architecture of Node.js allows it to initiate requests simultaneously instead of waiting for one request to complete and return a reply. It can process multiple requests, an important factor for real-time applications, where speed is essential. Applications built using Node.js can handle various client requests using the event loop without any load on real-time app development.
• One language- The benefit of Node.js for app development is its use of JavaScript only for both the front and backend development. This helps reduce application development cycle time and makes the process easier. It also results in apps demanding fewer resources for maintenance than apps built using other run-time environments.
• Cost-effective - Node.js is a very cost-effective platform for app development. It offers high speed, scalability, and improved performance, making it the choice for app development.
• Single code - A single code can be written in Node.js for server and client-side interaction. This makes it easy to exchange information and achieve optimal synchronization to help save development time.
• Reusable code - Node.js code is reusable and can be used across different instances, which makes Node.js a preferred real-time app development platform. The reusable code can be used while moving from another run-time environment to Node.js.
• Data handling - Node.js applications allow users to add information on the go, using smart devices like mobile phones or tablets. The time between events and actions is much less, and this real-time data can be handled as needed.
• SEO friendly - Node.js enables SEO enhancement of the real-time app by its backend rendering that helps improve app engagement and provides more visibility to the app.

According to a survey by the Node.js foundation, 98% of Fortune 500 companies embraced the technology.

Companies using Node.js for their real-time apps development:

1. Uber – Uber cities Node.js’s asynchronous feature, capacity to process vast volumes of data, concise code & minimal implementation costs. The driver-passenger matching algorithm needed an event-driven feature. It offers short and robust code with the capacity to handle data volume, making Node.js ideal for its application.
2. Netflix - Netflix's streaming and managing millions of users is possible because of the combination of using Java and Node.js on the backend. Node.js allows Netflix to create and rectify instances and execute them in Docker containers, enabling the app to be more scalable and faster while reducing development time.
3. Paypal - The user-facing content element application of PayPal - one of the most popular online payment systems. It is built using Node.js. Using this technology, PayPal's web application load time is twice as fast as their earlier java based application.
4. Linkedin - Linkedin is one of the most popular business-oriented social networking sites. It uses Node.js for its asynchronous event system to replace its earlier synchronous Ruby on Rails mobile app. Node.js was chosen for its scalability and performance efficiency.

In conclusion, Node.js is the best bet for building real-time apps for businesses. From event-based to non-blocking servers, it features everything required to facilitate user interaction and remote collaboration. A custom Node.js web development services team of mobile application developers can help build custom real-time applications.