7 Node.js tips and Tricks for JavaScript developers

“JavaScript is on its way to a grand success. No other programming language is evolving as JavaScript has in recent period. Almost every angle of a software application especially web application is touched by JavaScript. You want visually impressive app, JavaScript is there. You want interactive, Event driven app, can be possible with JavaScript. Now, with NodeJS, JavaScript has proved its unmatched potential in the industry. Now, web developers can build efficient server side communication with NodeJS. Just forget about that Apache Tomcat stuffs; it’s time for NodeJS. Using Node.js isn’t as complex as it gives the impression of. Although it requires a bit of understanding, developers can largely enhance the code readability of their programs and build scalable network applications at the same time. The software platform is immensely popular amongst developers and rests on Google’s V8 JavaScript engine – and yes, even on the Chrome browser runtime. Before going to Tips for NodeJS, I will like to put some effort on understanding the tricks of NodeJS that enables JavaScript to be used as a server side programming or networking”.

Tricks of NodeJS: Is it fine to take a chance on NodeJS? Should you avoid the all time industry leader i.e. Apache Tomcat for a newborn NodeJS? Will it be able to handle your process efficiently? These are few questions that may arise in your mind or your clients mind when asked to implement NodeJS into the application. Let’s understand what enables NodeJS to handle multiple requests at once. In traditional Tomcat server, multiple requests are handled by multiple instances of the server. Instances mean threads. Though the threads are highly scalable but it is an inefficient way of handling multiple requests. Many times, due to heavy load over the server, the application may crash or may lead to dead lock of the application. On the other hand, NodeJS absolutely avoids the threading concept; it rely over a newly emerge technology i.e. Asynchronous I/O concurrent allocation. In the process, the NodeJS server takes request from the event and gives them a token to wait and send the request for data retrieval from the database. In between, the server engaged in handling other requests as simple as it is. When the data reaches at NodeJS server, it stops the current event handling and serves the request that was asked to wait and then closes the event. After that, it resumes the event handling process again. So, there will be No deadlock, no locking of resource and nothing; things will work smoothly and hence improving the productivity of the application.

Now let’s see the top tips for those into JavaScript development services:

Strict Mode in Coding: Very helpful in finding out badly written JavaScript syntax! Developers can use strict mode in Node.js and significantly improve their code syntax. The tool lets developers recognize inadequately written syntax under JavaScript and inscribe quality code syntax. The code runs simple ‘use strict’; it makes the code not only well readable but also well maintainable. As a result, the efficiency and performance of Code will increase in a magical way also the cost of development decreases significantly and the cost of maintenance gets neglected almost.

Node Shell: Developers can benefit on their projects from the node shell – running ‘node’ and writing code just how they would write in a text editor. To make a way out though, the code does not support ‘exit’/’quit’ or analogous commands! Hence, developers can write a valid Node.js statement that states the way to exit the process. The command goes like - $process.exit (0).

Do Not Use ‘*’ in Production Phase: Agreed, having updated packages usually help with bug fixes and integrate new functions or improvements. However, keeping ‘*” to have the latest version often emerges as productive only when a developer has his product in a developmental stage. But, it is very dicey to have ‘*’ in production dependencies since the developer may not know which package would rapture or induce his application to crash. In fact, the developer must know which package is needed for his application instead of putting a star. It is an inefficient way of programming and hampers the performance and effectiveness of the application severely. Thus, steer clear of using such notation in a major deployment phase.

Go Asynchronous: JavaScript developers are recommended to use asynchronous APIs in their code, particularly in performance critical parts. Since synchronous methods tend to feature a possibility of locking up the entire application, it is sensible to avoid synchronous components and ensure that external libraries do not regress to synchronous calls. NodeJS is meant for Asynchronous I/O to handle concurrent processes. So, it’s recommended to use asynchronous calls for the process; though no direct impact but has significant importance in terms of creating highly scalable application.

No Node.js for Static Assets: Another critical tip would be to avoid using Node.js for rendering static assets. Developers should rather render static assets (like CSS & images) on a standard web server. If something can be well handled in an efficient manner; why you take risk on NodeJS performance? So, avoid using NodeJS for static stuffs and use NodeJS for which it is intended for. This will basically help them trim down the pressure on their Node.js instance and help them boost their app performance.

Use Client Side Rendering: Developers who use Node.js for JavaScript should depend on client side rendering in their Node.js environment. This primarily enables one to eliminate the possibility of latency and helps save bandwidth at the same time. And, allowing Node.js to render server-side will do nothing but send back an HTML page each time it is requested. Hence, developers should try to employ client side rendering. By this process, the load on the NodeJS server will decrease and hence increase in the productivity.

Think Modular forget about Monolithic: Modularity is highly recommended while developing any web application. It enables the application to be scalable one without much hassle. Always adding bricks is better than developing a whole building at once. Was a period then, when Monolithic was in high demand in the industry; but, now industry has realized the importance of Modularity in any application may it be web application or software application! With modularity your application gets enough scope for rebuilding, retrofitting and enhancements. So, as a smart developer you should always try to develop modular web applications on the NodeJS platform. In fact, it makes the Agile development a lot easier than before which is in the trend of recent period.

Mindfire’s JavaScript development team has rich experience in core JavaScript programming as well as various JavaScript Frameworks and Libraries e.g. Node.JS, Backbone.JS, KnockOut.JS, Angular.JS, EXT.JS and creation of rapid web application development solutions. To make use of the best offshore software development services from Mindfire Solution, mail your requirements to sales at Mindfire Solutions dot com. 

AngularJS features every JavaScript developer must know

“JavaScript is getting popular over time. With every passing day, industry is finding it more potential than before. The implementation of JavaScript has crossed all limits, domains and applications. JavaScript is no more a client side programming language; it is being used as a server side programming with nodeJS! Indeed, it is better than the traditional Apache Tomcat server. Here in AngularJS, the web development process gets reinvented and performs much better than others. Better user experience, easy to implement approach, quality code development and better expression of emotion are the few major qualities of AngularJS. Above all, it's from Google family and hence no question about quality of service. As a JavaScript based web framework it enables web developers in creating extra ordinary web applications in less time and effort and most importantly the quality of web applications built on Angular is simply superb”.

MVC architecture for quality app development: The core of AngularJS is a MVC architecture i.e. Model View Controller. Model means the component that keeps the data. Here in AngularJS, MongoDB is used as the database. View means the front end section that is exposed to the end user. There are many in-built templates in Angular that may be implemented for rich looking internet web applications. Controller is the most important section of MVC architecture. It keeps the main logic of the architecture and maintains secrecy between the View and Model components. When there is something triggered in the view by the user, a request is passed to the Controller and then the controller does some analysis and takes necessary data from Model and renders it into the View. By this process, the View and the Model remain isolated from each other. In return, it not only improves the quality of the web app but also makes the application a scalable one.

Single page application is our motive: The concept of Single page web application was introduced by Google in an effective manner with its flagship framework i.e. AngularJS. Why single page web app? What is its necessity? With Single page web application, the user will get better experience while browsing the application. Sometimes, the user feels bizarre with those links, menus and all especially the breadcrumbs is just painful. While transiting from one page to another, the emotion gets lost, the feelings get hampered and the mind gets unfocused. Isn't? But, if our application is fitted within a single page then? Definitely the user will feel better. He will feel much free while browsing the contents. He feels as if everything is there around him and he can well access them in no time. Though many contents are hidden; but with a single click they come alive to the page in a superfast mode due to the power of JavaScript. At the end of day, the user experience improves tremendously and the user can easily relate his emotions with our application that is our aim from the very beginning.

Custom tag Attributes: One of the eye catchy feature of AngularJS is its custom tag attribute. In AngularJS, this is called as Directives and they are the most favourite components of developers who work on AngularJS. Directives enables web developers in creating customized web application that are highly flexible and dynamic with data binding technique. Directives like ng-bind, ng-model, ng-app etc are of extreme use while crafting useful web app in AngularJS platform.

Dual mode data binding: It is directly associated with the above Custom tag attributes i.e. Directives. Here the data get binded to the custom tags in a dynamic manner or as per the instruction from the Controller. Since, everything in AngularJS runs and interacts over the templates; so the data binding is a must for the application. The template in AngularJS is not treated as a string or object. In fact, it is an absolute DOM and the elements of the template are accessed by the Controller so as to provide dynamic data to the end user in a systematic approach. The in-built custom tags and ng-* makes it possible through binding process; the best part that the binding can be from both end i.e. From Server to client and vice versa. This is the beauty of AngularJS and loved by every dedicated AngularJS developer.

Well maintainable codes: Google's AngularJS always encourages developers to create well maintainable code by proper formatting and systematic approach to handle the logic of the application. Everything is there to support the odd things that may be our requirement for the application development. But the thing is how it is handled? Google does not leave any pseudo code while building enterprise standard web applications from its platform. If the code is maintainable, that means the cost of maintenance will be negligible and it will make the web application quite scalable as well.

Responsive is yet another feature: We can't ignore responsive web design in this stage where the industry is flooded with smart devices and they are mostly used for browsing purpose. Google understands it and had made the AngularJS quite smarter to adopt with different circumstances like platforms, devices and browsers etc. Moreover, the contents from the Controller will get rendered differently as per the screen size and resolution of the browser making the whole application responsive enough. At the end of day, it's all about user experience and this is the most important concern for every web developer and Google as well.


Internationalization is there: Are you trying to create a multi lingual web application? Can be done with AngularJS! AngularJS supports Internationalization i.e. I18N. It provides enough support to create cross geographic location and cross culture web applications and makes the processes a lot hassle free than expected. It modifies the web content as per the location of the browser through GPS API, date and time and accordingly the languages are plant over the template making application multi lingual. Moreover, an AngularJS developer can render different types of images and look and feel as per the climate or season of the location from where it is being browsed. It can also make the content dynamic and user focused with this feature. Imagine, you are designing a tourist web application, and you want to suggest best tourist places for your user. It will be a good idea if you can suggest him according to the season. I mean suggest for Hill stations in summer and landscape in winter. Isn't amazing?? Last but not the least; you will get Google standard service which is an obvious bonus for you!

Mindfire is a top notch JavaScript development company from India which has executed hundreds of projects in the domain. We build applications which best suit our customer’s budget and business interests. If you are interested to hire expert AngularJS services from us then send in your requirements to sales at Mindfire Solutions dot com.