Developing Mobile Apps with JavaScript and Node.js - Optimus Information Inc

Developing Mobile Apps with JavaScript and Node.js - Optimus Information Inc

Node.js® is a server-side JavaScript platform specifically designed for efficient and responsive web applications. Not just any web application. Only those that want to be fast, scalable and super portable. It runs atop Google's V8 JIT-compile engine and an event-driven, non-blocking I/O runtime model.

Why You Would Want to Use Node.js

Node.js, or just Node, with or without a JavaScript frontend, makes efficient use of hardware resources especially for I/O-intensive services. It also reduces developers' cognitive and coding loads via several key features:

• It replaces the traditional request-response paradigm with a fast, two-way communication model.
• Since both ends can speak the same language, transposing app logic is not needed.
• Most developers know some JavaScript, so project ramp-up is shallow.
• Since Node is asynchronous without the use of threads, it is not memory-intensive. Thus, a single server can handle about 20 X the load produced by Java.
• Developers avoid having to manage I/O blocking and threads.
• Page rendering code can execute on either the client and server sides to adjust for network load.
• Node.js websockets run on TCP, not HTTP, so low-overhead client-server communication is enabled in both directions.
• Naturally, using a single language and portable code base between frontend and backend developers saves time and money.

The unique features of Node.js are designed to support multi-user, collaborative, real-time web apps that support multiple network connections with maximum throughput. For example, Node.js apps can play audio and video streams to a mobile device while simultaneously uploading them.

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