Node.js, over the years, has become a standalone choice for developing fast and scalable web applications. It is famously known for building chat applications, back-end for social media sites, data streaming apps, and much more. However, even with the rising popularity of Node.js, we know very little about this javascript runtime environment. More in the context of NPM, a term most commonly used with Node.js. Therefore, in this article, you will get some valuable information on What is node.js? An overview of node.js architecture, What role NPM plays, and Top useful NPM modules.
What is Node.js?
Node.js is an open-source, Javascript runtime environment on Chrome’s V8 engine that lets you effortlessly develop fast and scalable web applications. It utilizes an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight, efficient, and excellent for data-intensive real-time applications that run across shared devices.
To understand what is so special about Node.js in 2020. We have covered the topic in detail: What is Node.js? Where, when and how to use it with examples
Node.js Architecture
Unlike the traditional web-serving technique, where each request creates new thread cramping up the system RAM, Node.js operates on a single thread, which enables it to support thousands of concurrent connection handling event loops.
NPM: Node Package Manager
While we are trying to understand the basics of Node.js, we don’t want to miss out on its built-in support for package management using npm. A popular package library – npm is the most prized possession of the Node.js community. It contains millions of downloadable libraries according to specific requirements. These massive libraries are free of cost, and with each passing day, these libraries are getting bigger, making the Node.js community more reliable and useful.
Open-source developers from every continent use npm to share or borrow packages, and many enterprises utilize them for their private developments too. You can explore the list of packaged modules on the official website of npm .
Node.js 11.0 (Latest release of node.js) uses native Node, making it stable with error codes, interval time, and improvised diagnosis to improve performance. It has made the geeky life of the developers more delightful by deploying extraordinary experiences for users.
NPM consists of three distinct components: the website, the Command Line Interface (CLI), and the registry.
Top Useful npm Modules The minimalist approach of Node.js inspires some of the most useful npm modules today.
- Express.js
- Sails.js
- Meteor.js
- Hapi.js
- Koa.js
- Total.js
- Nest.js
- Loopback.js
- Mongo.js
- Socket.js
These useful npm nodules help you in developing web apps and allow developers to focus on crucial elements such as high performance, automation of time-consuming tasks, robust routing, and super-high test coverage.
Conclusion
NPM solves critical development challenges with ease, and you can also download & install any package and use it for a variety of use cases. The code can be shared with any user anywhere and anytime. For security reasons, you can also restrict the code to specific developers. NPM also allows you to form virtual teams by using orgs and manage multiple versions of code and their dependencies. By creating orgs, you can coordinate package maintenance update applications and also find other developers working on similar projects or code errors. It is super easy to adapt and incorporate packages of code for your web apps with NPM.