What Startups Need To Know About Node.Js.

JavaScript is an indispensable tool for developers, and one of the most popular development languages in use today. For many, it’s the starting point for any new projects, and has spawned many platforms to made developing easier and more efficient. One of the most popular JavaScript platforms is Node.js. It’s based on Google’s Chrome browser runtime, and with Chrome being far and away the most popular browser on the planet, you can bet that Node.js has plenty of support.

Before Node.js, the normal procedure was for dynamic web content – content that changes depending on information from the browser accessing it – to be scripted on the server side and sent as a complete update. This could be as simple as choosing a geographic location or local time to display on the page – the information would flow to the server, and then be sent back to the browser. For many simple processes, this wouldn’t cause significant lag – but with bandwidth and processing power going up, and end-user patience going down, a faster, more efficient way of handling data was necessary. Hello Node.js.

Node.js performs its magic by running JavaScript within a webpage’s HTML. In practice, this means that it’s possible to program in the same language for the server-side and on the client-side of the equation. This has many benefits. At the initial point of development, perhaps the most obvious one is that of simplicity. By only needing one language for your development pathway, translation and adaptation are far less of an issue. It also means that production costs and development time can be far lower. There are a host of modules available for it, and many out-of-the-box options available, which also help to reduce development time significantly – and have the benefit of having been tested by a huge community of custom software development companies and developers along the way.

In terms of implementation, Node.js also offers several advantages. One of these is scalability: because it operates with a robust and heavily supported set of tools, it’s remarkably easy to expand projects or maintain them as they grow. This benefit shouldn’t be underestimated; many good ideas have failed by being unable to maintain their operation under the strain of increasing numbers of users. Node.js also offers the advantage of being non-platform specific. Any device that can handle JavaScript can handle Node.js applications, and that covers the vast majority of devices in circulation. Being able to hit the maximum audience is often key to a startup’s success, and so being able to reach the maximum scope of devices can only be a good thing.

Finally, Node.js is trusted by many of the major players, from Netflix to Paypal; that means that support and development will continue to be supported long into the future.  Adaptability and future-proofing are built into it as much as possible. It runs asynchronously and is non-blocking, meaning that you don’t have to wait for it to finish one request before it starts on the next one, and because it’s JavaScript, it should work will with any future developments the language takes as well.