Chapter 5

Node.js Tutorial

Node.js is an environment which runs JavaScript code outside of the browser.

Benefits of Node.js:

• Develop faster due to the vast number of modules and reusable code from npm
• Make fewer mistakes and be more productive (One language across the stack)
• Delight your user with fast response time (YMMV)
• Reduce team size and communication overhead (full-stack JavaScript)
• Reduce dependency on other teams (e.g., backend API teams)
• Ability to re-use code on the browser and server

Node.js Features:

• Non-blocking I/O: performant
• Fast JS engine: browser arms race (Google Chrome V8 and Microsoft Chakra)
• Expressive and interpreted language: don’t waste time on setup
• Solid and improving language standard (ECMAScript)
• Built-in package manager with a humongous number of packages (npm)