NodeJS is an asyncronous event driven Javascript framework. The main feature that separates NodeJS from other systems is is its non reliance on threads and blocking code. NodeJS does not require that a certain process finishes before starting another one. This allows the application to move on instead of being stuck on long processes.
NodeJS was a load of fun to work with, and I really did enjoy using it. Since it is based on Javascript, the learning curve for me wasn’t that bad and I picked it up fast. It felt very familiar even though I haven’t worked with the framework. Setup on both Windows and Linux were easy for the most part, but on Ubuntu 14.04 x64 LTS, I was confused why my Node app was not running for a while before discovering that Ubuntu’s package manager had another package called node unrelated to the package nodejs).
I will be honest: I did not enjoy the non-blocking feeature of NodeJS at first because it requires me to do a copious amount of callbacks. I will be trying out something different next time so I do not get code that is described on this page.
Although I was very familiar with Javascript, I still felt weird using it on the server side. I am used to the idea that Javscript is a client side language designed to provide and modify visual elements. Right now I still feel a lot more comfortable with PHP for server side code, but I will try using NodeJS on my next back end application.
I wrote a simple script to check for membership of a user in FOSSASIA’s GCI Students organization on Github. This was the first NodeJS code I ever wrote, and roonyh (Aruna Herath) encouraged me to try out other tasks. I then created a GitHub OAuth Application which logs in the user using a GitHub OAuth token. I used httpdispatcher to route my application and requests to get data from GitHub’s API. I spent a lot of time on the second application, but it was all worth it considering I now have a lot more knowledge about NodeJS than I had when I started out :). I will definitely be using NodeJS in the future.
12 Jan 2016 #NodeJS #javascript #server side #first #framework