The Basics of Using Node.js
I’ve been doing a lot of work in node.js lately, so I thought I’d write up my thoughts on the basics of using node.js. I’m going to try to cover some of the basics of how to get started, some of the things I wish more people would tell you about it, and some basic patterns for writing apps in node.
If you’re unfamiliar with node.js: it’s a javascript engine that lets you execute javascript outside the browser. It also provides an entire standard library (called CommonJS) that allows you to do things like open files, connect to databases, etc., without having to install any third party libraries. It’s built on top of Google’s V8 Javascript engine, which is what powers Chrome. Node has gained a lot of popularity recently because it allows you to use javascript on the server side, which is something that hasn’t really been possible before now. In addition, it contains a huge number of libraries (called “modules”) that allow you to accomplish almost anything you might want on the server side in javascript – as well as providing a solid foundation for developing your own modules!
In a previous tutorial I covered using the basic HTTP server built into node. However, there is a better way of doing this. As well as building out frameworks people have also built libraries for node.js to allow you to create an HTTP server much more easily. The library we’re going to be using is called Express, and it’s a very popular framework which can be used with node.js.
The first thing you need to do is install it via npm (node package manager). To do this, open up your terminal and type:
npm install express –save
Now that your package is installed we need to add it to our file so that it can be used. At the top of your file type in:
const express = require(‘express’);
You will also need to create your application by typing:
const app = express();
This creates an instance of the server so that we can use it. Now we need to tell the app what port to listen on (the port is the number behind the colon in http://www.exampleurlhere.com:8080/). You should set this variable or pass it in as an argument when you run your node script. For now though let’s just hard code
Node.js is an open source, cross platform server side environment for building fast, scalable and lightweight web applications. It is built on Google’s V8 JavaScript engine.
Node.js runs on a single thread, uses non-blocking I/O and asynchronous events. This makes it extremely scalable and performant. Node.js uses callbacks to process requests asynchronously rather than threads or processes.
In this article we will cover the basics of Node.js:
Setup
Writing your first program
Understanding callbacks
Using libraries with npm
Node.js is an event-driven, server-side JavaScript environment that runs JavaScript using the V8 engine developed by Google.
Node.js connects to databases such as MongoDB and MySQL and manages connections through its own module called node-mysql.
In this tutorial, I am going to show you how to perform CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations using Node.js and MySQL database.
Node.js is a high-level programming language that allows you to build standalone programs using JavaScript. The advantage of using Node.js is that it takes care of the low level stuff such as thread management and interprocess communication and allows you to focus on building your application.
Node.js is built on top of Google Chrome’s JavaScript engine V8 and provides a very simple API for creating servers that listen for connections and provide responses back to connected clients.
Node.js does not currently support multi-threaded programming but instead uses a single-threaded event loop to handle concurrency which provides some performance benefits over traditional multi-threaded programming models due to its lower overhead. In theory, this could result in better performance but in reality, this difference will only be noticed when processing large volumes of requests so for most applications it will not make much difference.
I am going to provide you with a basic understanding of how Node.js works and how you can use it to run JavaScript outside of a browser. This tutorial will be very basic and is meant for those who have not yet been introduced to Node.js.
The documentation on the Node.js website is very good, but I felt it was often too complicated for someone who is just getting started. I also did not find many tutorials that were very beginner friendly, so I thought I would take a stab at it and attempt to explain what Node.js is in a simple way.
Installing Node.js
You can go to the official website here and download the installer for Windows, Mac or Linux depending on your operating system. You will know if you have successfully installed Node if the following command works:
Node.js is a powerful high-level, open source JavaScript runtime environment for building fast and scalable network applications. It is built on Google Chrome’s JavaScript V8 Engine and it is highly scalable. Node.js can do wonders in a web server, such as handling up to 10k connections at the same time.
Node.js runs on various platforms (Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, etc.) and it is used by many organizations to create highly scalable products. This article will help you learn how to get started with Node.js and start using this tool in your projects.