What Is Node.js?
Node.js is a server-side runtime environment for JavaScript running. It is also event-driven and based on a non-blocking I/O model, being lightweight and efficient. Node.js is a good fit for developing real-time applications, from chat to online games.
Pros and Cons of NodeJs
Pros:
- Performance: As long as Node.js works on the non-blocking event-driven architecture, it performs significantly better in I/O-heavy operations.
- Unilingual: Developers write in JavaScript unilingually to work on both the client and server sides to afford the ease of building projects.
- Scalability: Node.js can be used to develop scalable network applications that can support tens of thousands of concurrent connections.
Cons:
- Callback Hell: Being asynchronous, code written in Node.js can form a situation of function nesting so deep that the code becomes unmanageable, which is called Callback Hell.
- Maturity: Node.js and its ecosystem are growing very fast, so it is new compared to PHP and Python, and newness in this case might bring new stability issues.
- CPU-Intensive Tasks: Node.js’s performance in CPU-bound applications is not excellent since it is single-threaded.
PHP vs Python vs Node.js: Best Server-Side Scripting Language
The server-side scripting language that you will finally come to notice can either make or break your project in web development, which is a big deal. The most popular ways to go are PHP, Python, and Node.js, each with strong and weak sides.
The following in-depth guide will try to point out the differences among these languages, their respective advantages, and the ideal use cases to apply one so that you decide on your next project as informed as possible.