What is Node.js?

NodeJS is a backend JavaScript runtime environment (RTE) designed in 2009 by Ryan Dahl, that is used to build server-side applications like websites and internal API services. Node.js is also a cross-platform stack, meaning that applications can be run on such operating systems as macOS, Microsoft Windows and Linux.

Node.js is powered by Google’s Chrome JavaScript engine V8, with web applications event-driven in an asynchronous way. Also, Node.js uses the world’s largest ecosystem of open source libraries – npm (The Node Package Manager).

The npm modules idea is a publicly available set of reusable components, which are available through simple installation via an online repository, with both version and dependency management.

The architecture of Node.js work

• Node.js has a limited set of thread pools of requests processing.
• Node.js queues requests as they come in.
• Then comes the Single-Threaded Event Loop – the core component that waits indefinitely for requests.
• The loop picks up the request in the queue as it arrives and verifies if it requires an I/O blocking operation. 
• If the request doesn’t have a blocking I/O operation, the loop processes it and sends a response.
• If the request appears to have a blocking operation, the loop creates a thread from the internal thread pool to control the request. 
• As soon as the blocking task is handled, the event loop continues monitoring blocking requests and queues them. That’s called a non-blocking nature.

Why use Node.js

• Single-Threaded Event Loop Model. Node.js uses a ‘Single-Threaded Event Loop Model’ architecture that manages multiple requests submitted via clients. While the main loop of events is performed by a single thread, the I/O work in the background is performed by separate threads because the I/O operations in the Node API are asynchronous (non-blocking design) to fit into the event loop. 
• Performance. Through Google Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine on which the work is built Node.js allows us to run the code faster and easier.
• High scalability.  Applications in Node.js are very scalable because they work asynchronously. Node.js operates in a single thread when one request is submitted, processing begins and is ready to prepare for the next request. When ready, it sends the request back to the client.
• NPM package. 
• Global community. NodeJs has an enormous global community that actively communicating on GitHub, Reddit, and StackOverflow. Community members also share completely free tools, modules, packages, and frameworks with each other.
• Extended hosting options. Node.js deployments occur via PaaS providers such as AWS and Heroku. Thus, NodeJs minimizes the number of servers required to host an application, ultimately reducing page load times by 50%.

Who uses NodeJs

Node.js enables to build the business solutions due to which you have an edge over competitors, e.g.:

• IoT apps;
• SPA;
• Chatbots;
• Data Streaming, etc.

Node.js is quite popular it is used for development by both global companies and startups, below are examples of the most popular of them: 

How to create your application on Node.js backend using Flatlogic Platform

1 Step. Choosing the Tech Stack

In this step, you’re setting the name of your application and choosing the stack: Frontend, Backend, and Database.

2 Step. Choosing the Starter Template

Then you’re choosing the design of the web app.

3 Step. Schema Editor

In this part you will need to know which application you want to build, that is, CRM or E-commerce, also in this part you build a database schema i.e. tables and relationships between them.

If you are not familiar with database design and it is difficult for you to understand what tables are, we have prepared several ready-made example schemas of real-world apps that you can build your app upon modification:

• E-commerce app;
• Time tracking app;
• Books store;
• Chat (messaging) app;
• Blog.

Flatlogic Platform offers you the opportunity to create a CRUD application with the Node.js backend literally in a few minutes. As a result, you will get DataBase models, Node.js CRUD admin panel, and API.