What is Node.js?

In this post, I will explain What is Node.js and programmers using Node.js.

Node.js is a platform built on Chrome's JavaScript runtime for easily building fast, scalable network applications. Node.js is an open-source command-line tool built for the server-side JavaScript code. Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient, perfect for data-intensive real-time applications that run across distributed devices.

Node.js is used because of various reasons like :

Non-blocking I/O - every I/O call must take a call back, whether it is to retrieve information from disk, network or another process. 

Event-driven means that the server only reacts when an event occurs. This allows the developer to create high performance, highly scalable, “real-time” applications.

Built-in support for protocols like (HTTP, DNS, TLS) 

Low-level - Do not remove functionality present at the POSIX layer. For example, support half-closed TCP connections. 

Powerful bots with useful automated actions and information written in Node.js. All-time running apps for Discord chat which lately people take it as motivation to easily dive into the node world.

Stream everything; never force the buffering of data.

Node.js is used for back-end development, but it is popular as a full-stack and front-end solution as well. It is used primarily to build web applications, but it is a very popular choice for building enterprise applications too. Developers like it because of its versatility, agility and performance. It increases productivity and application performance in a significant way. Since Node.js has a long-term support (LTS) plan that provides security and stability, it's no wonder that huge enterprises constantly add it to their stacks.

Node.js was written by Ryan Dahl in 2009, The initial release of Node.js supported only Linux and Mac OS X. Its development and maintenance were led by Dahl and later sponsored by Joyent. Dahl was inspired to create Node.js after seeing a file upload progress bar on Flickr. The browser did not know how much of the file had been uploaded and had to query the Web server. Dahl desired an easier way.

Applications that can be written using Node.js include, but are not limited to:

1. Static file servers

2. Web Application frameworks

3. REST APIs and Backend Application

4. Real-Time services (Chat, Games etc)

5. Blogs, CMS, Social Applications.

6. Utilities and Tools