The popularity of JavaScript has made it a popular choice among application developers. However, there are various frameworks that make use of this programming platform. In this comparison guide, we will talk about two of them – Node.js & React.js
What is React.js
Facebook created ReactJS, which is the most widely used front-end JavaScript library for building user interfaces or UI components. Because of its ease of use and flexibility, react.js has become highly popular. React can be used to create single-page or mobile applications.
React.js Features
JSX : JSX stands for JavaScript XML. It’s a syntax extension of JavaScript. It’s an XML or HTML-like syntax used by ReactJS. This syntax is processed into JavaScript calls of React Framework. It extends ES6 so that HTML-like text can co-exist with JavaScript react code. It is not necessary to use JSX, but it is recommended to use in ReactJS.
Virtual DOM: A virtual DOM object is a representation of the original DOM object. It works like a one-way data binding. Whenever any modifications happen in the web application, the entire UI is re-rendered in virtual DOM representation. Then it compares the old DOM representation to the new DOM representation. After that, the actual DOM will only update the things that have actually changed. This speeds up the application and eliminates memory waste.
Performance: React uses VDOM, which allows web apps to run much quicker than those created with other front-end frameworks. React breaks a complex user interface into individual components, allowing several users to work on each one at the same time, reducing development time.
One-way Data Binding: React’s one-way data binding keeps everything modular and fast. When a developer creates a React project, they frequently nest child components within parent components due to the unidirectional data flow. A developer can better control the entire web application by understanding where and when an error occurs.
What is Node.js
Node.js is a server-side platform based on Google Chrome’s JavaScript Engine. Ryan Dahl developed Node.js in 2009. Node.js can be used to develop different types of applications, including command-line apps, web apps, real-time chat apps, and REST API servers, etc…
Node.js Features
Asynchronous and Event-Driven − Asynchronous and Event- The Node.js library’s APIs are all asynchronous, which is non-blocking. That is Node. the js-based server never waits for an API to return data. The server moves to the next API after calling it and a notification mechanism of Events of Node.js helps the server to get a response from the previous API call.
Very Fast − The Node.js library is extremely quick in code execution because it is based on Google Chrome’s V8 JavaScript Engine.
Single-Threaded but Highly Scalable − Node.js uses a single-threaded model with event looping. The event mechanism helps the server to respond in a non-blocking way and makes the server highly scalable as opposed to traditional servers which create limited threads to handle requests. Node.js uses a single-threaded program and the same program can provide service to a much larger number of requests than traditional servers like Apache HTTP Server.
No Buffering − Node.js applications never buffer any data. These applications simply output the data in chunks.
Where to Use Node.js?
Following are the areas where Node.js is proving itself as a perfect technology partner.
- I/O bound Applications
- Data Streaming Applications
- Data-Intensive Real-time Applications (DIRT)
- JSON APIs based Applications
- Single Page Applications
Top Companies Using Node.js and React.js for Application Development
- Netflix
- Uber
- PayPal
- eBay
- Walmart
Conclusion
Both React and Node JS have distinct roles to play in the web development process, but they may be combined to gain various benefits. The only experience a developer needs to use both these technologies is that of using NPM. You can contact us if you want to create a new web application or update an existing one.
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