NodeJS Packages

NPM is the node package manager which contains packages or modules which can be used while implementing small tasks such as adding real-time features, working with databases, and many more. It is used to discover, install, publish, and develop node programs. The command “npm install package_name” installs a particular package that can be used during the application implementation. Although, there are more than 1300 packages and the count is being increased day-by-day but here are a few packages with which developers can implement tasks very easily and quickly. 

1. Express 

Express is a NodeJS web application framework. It is used widely to create and publish applications. It is fast, unopinionated, and comes with a robust collection of HTTP helpers. It is also best known for its development of APIs. 

2. MongoDB

It’s an official MongoDB driver for NodeJS, that provides API for MongoDB databases. MongoDB is a non-relational database which stores the data in key-value pairs in the form of documents. It ensures data integrity and meets the standards for security and compliance issues.

3. Request

The request is an HTTP library that is used to make HTTP calls. GET, PUSH, PUT, POST is the four requests made by HTTP during server-side implementation. It deals with the authentication part of the application.

4. Webpack

Webpack is generally referred to as a module bundler that bundles HTML, CSS, and JS files for its usage in the browser. It helps in providing a clean, organized, and divided code as per the developer’s preferences. 

5. Socket.io

Socket.io enables real-time, bi-directional, and event-driven communication and it also focuses on two-way real-time connections. Socket generally consists of a Nodejs server and a JS client library. 

6. Moment 

The moment is a JavaScript library that is used for parsing, manipulating, validating, and formatting dates. It displays data as per localization and in a readable format. It is the most secure and maintainable time manipulation library and is preferred for solving problems of parsing, formatting, and working with time forms. 

7. Async 

Async is a utility module that helps in loading JavaScript content, and also works with browsers so well. It provides powerful functions for asynchronous JavaScript, and render-blocking is eliminated to increase web page performance. 

JavaScript is the universal language for building web applications. It is used in frontend (client-side) and backend (server-side) development as well. But the truth that the beauty of the front-end relies on the back-end can’t be denied. This is when NodeJS comes into the picture. NodeJS is the best choice for server-side application development due to its vast and versatile features. Popular companies like Uber, PayPal, Netflix, Walmart, Twitter, LinkedIn, and even NASA use NodeJS for their server-side development. 

So, what is NodeJS? NodeJS is an event-driven JavaScript runtime built on Chrome’s V8 engine that is used to build traditional and scalable server-side web applications and back-end APIs (Application Program Interfaces). It was developed by Ryan Dahl in 2009, who was inspired by Gmail for having push capability and building real-time applications. Approximately, 36.42% of developers use NodeJS for its libraries, tools, and frameworks. It is open-source and follows a “Single-Threaded” runtime environment. Single-Threaded refers to handling multiple clients simultaneously. NodeJS also offers speed in client-server communication and data processing. Developers can also share code and can reuse it for both the frontend and backend parts of the application which makes it worthy to use.

In this blog, we will discuss why to use NodeJS for backend development. So let’s get started.