Tuesday, October 27, 2015

7 Node.js tips and Tricks for JavaScript developers

JavaScript development services
JavaScript is on its way to a grand success. No other programming language is evolving as JavaScript has in recent period. Almost every angle of a software application especially web application is touched by JavaScript. You want visually impressive app, JavaScript is there. You want interactive, Event driven app, can be possible with JavaScript. Now, with NodeJS, JavaScript has proved its unmatched potential in the industry. Now, web developers can build efficient server side communication with NodeJS. Just forget about that Apache Tomcat stuffs; it’s time for NodeJS. Using Node.js isn’t as complex as it gives the impression of. Although it requires a bit of understanding, developers can largely enhance the code readability of their programs and build scalable network applications at the same time. The software platform is immensely popular amongst developers and rests on Google’s V8 JavaScript engine – and yes, even on the Chrome browser runtime. Before going to Tips for NodeJS, I will like to put some effort on understanding the tricks of NodeJS that enables JavaScript to be used as a server side programming or networking”.

Tricks of NodeJS: Is it fine to take a chance on NodeJS? Should you avoid the all time industry leader i.e. Apache Tomcat for a newborn NodeJS? Will it be able to handle your process efficiently? These are few questions that may arise in your mind or your clients mind when asked to implement NodeJS into the application. Let’s understand what enables NodeJS to handle multiple requests at once. In traditional Tomcat server, multiple requests are handled by multiple instances of the server. Instances mean threads. Though the threads are highly scalable but it is an inefficient way of handling multiple requests. Many times, due to heavy load over the server, the application may crash or may lead to dead lock of the application. On the other hand, NodeJS absolutely avoids the threading concept; it rely over a newly emerge technology i.e. Asynchronous I/O concurrent allocation. In the process, the NodeJS server takes request from the event and gives them a token to wait and send the request for data retrieval from the database. In between, the server engaged in handling other requests as simple as it is. When the data reaches at NodeJS server, it stops the current event handling and serves the request that was asked to wait and then closes the event. After that, it resumes the event handling process again. So, there will be No deadlock, no locking of resource and nothing; things will work smoothly and hence improving the productivity of the application.

Now let’s see the top tips for those into JavaScript development services:

Strict Mode in Coding: Very helpful in finding out badly written JavaScript syntax! Developers can use strict mode in Node.js and significantly improve their code syntax. The tool lets developers recognize inadequately written syntax under JavaScript and inscribe quality code syntax. The code runs simple ‘use strict’; it makes the code not only well readable but also well maintainable. As a result, the efficiency and performance of Code will increase in a magical way also the cost of development decreases significantly and the cost of maintenance gets neglected almost.

Node Shell: Developers can benefit on their projects from the node shell – running ‘node’ and writing code just how they would write in a text editor. To make a way out though, the code does not support ‘exit’/’quit’ or analogous commands! Hence, developers can write a valid Node.js statement that states the way to exit the process. The command goes like - $process.exit (0).

Do Not Use ‘*’ in Production Phase: Agreed, having updated packages usually help with bug fixes and integrate new functions or improvements. However, keeping ‘*” to have the latest version often emerges as productive only when a developer has his product in a developmental stage. But, it is very dicey to have ‘*’ in production dependencies since the developer may not know which package would rapture or induce his application to crash. In fact, the developer must know which package is needed for his application instead of putting a star. It is an inefficient way of programming and hampers the performance and effectiveness of the application severely. Thus, steer clear of using such notation in a major deployment phase.

Go Asynchronous: JavaScript developers are recommended to use asynchronous APIs in their code, particularly in performance critical parts. Since synchronous methods tend to feature a possibility of locking up the entire application, it is sensible to avoid synchronous components and ensure that external libraries do not regress to synchronous calls. NodeJS is meant for Asynchronous I/O to handle concurrent processes. So, it’s recommended to use asynchronous calls for the process; though no direct impact but has significant importance in terms of creating highly scalable application.

No Node.js for Static Assets: Another critical tip would be to avoid using Node.js for rendering static assets. Developers should rather render static assets (like CSS & images) on a standard web server. If something can be well handled in an efficient manner; why you take risk on NodeJS performance? So, avoid using NodeJS for static stuffs and use NodeJS for which it is intended for. This will basically help them trim down the pressure on their Node.js instance and help them boost their app performance.

Use Client Side Rendering: Developers who use Node.js for JavaScript should depend on client side rendering in their Node.js environment. This primarily enables one to eliminate the possibility of latency and helps save bandwidth at the same time. And, allowing Node.js to render server-side will do nothing but send back an HTML page each time it is requested. Hence, developers should try to employ client side rendering. By this process, the load on the NodeJS server will decrease and hence increase in the productivity.

Think Modular forget about Monolithic: Modularity is highly recommended while developing any web application. It enables the application to be scalable one without much hassle. Always adding bricks is better than developing a whole building at once. Was a period then, when Monolithic was in high demand in the industry; but, now industry has realized the importance of Modularity in any application may it be web application or software application! With modularity your application gets enough scope for rebuilding, retrofitting and enhancements. So, as a smart developer you should always try to develop modular web applications on the NodeJS platform. In fact, it makes the Agile development a lot easier than before which is in the trend of recent period.

Mindfire’s JavaScript development team has rich experience in core JavaScript programming as well as various JavaScript Frameworks and Libraries e.g. Node.JS, Backbone.JS, KnockOut.JS, Angular.JS, EXT.JS and creation of rapid web application development solutions. To make use of the best offshore software development services from Mindfire Solution, mail your requirements to sales at Mindfire Solutions dot com. 

No comments:

Post a Comment