Know why Node.js packages are the most sought-after

Did you know that brands like LinkedIn, Amazon, Netflix, Tumblr, eBay, Reddit, and PayPal use Node.js? And that it can increase an application’s performance by 50% as well as reduce development cost by 58%? On the other hand, Node.js claims that only 4% of companies using Node.js packages said it had no impact.

Node.js can be used to build an Application Programming Interface (API) or a web application. 

It is a platform built on Chrome’s JavaScript runtime, which simply put, runs on Google’s V8 engine converting javascript directly into machine code.

It utilizes a non-blocking input/output model and is occasion-driven making it highly effective for real-time applications.

Node.js contains packages, which can be used with the help of npm or Yarn in your development process. You may ask what are Node.js packages and how can they help? Node.js packages are just a bundle of files and images located in a separate directory. These files have programming logic written in a relevant language. Packages perform a particular task with the use of many classes and functions, and return the output. This just means you reduce the line of code in your development process and time behind the logic of a particular task. 

Here, we list some Node.js packages that can help you as a beginner

Different Node.js packages -- Express, Async.js, Axios, PM2, Moment.js and  Nodemon -- come handy in different technical scenarios.

Express

• Express is one of the most popular frameworks and quickest ways to use a programming language.

• It gives you the basic structure of the model–view–controller, view and routing (controller).

• With middleware, you can apply authentication and other conditions.

• It makes static file handling of applications easy. 

• It enables you to connect quickly with databases like MySql, MongoDb and Redis.

• You can implement error handling and debugging easily with Express.

• It provides simple coding syntax to understand and implement any application.

Async.js

• If you have some complex asynchronous javascript functionality, then this package is the best bet.

• It reduces multiple promise operation complexity.

• It is also available to be directly used in the browser.

• If you have a nested loop, then you can easily manage with async.js.

Axios

• Axios helps in making HTTP requests to fetch data from the server or any other third party.

• It follows the promise-based web architecture to return the response from any request.

• Axios is also available in the client library so we can use it in the browser and Node.js apps.

• It covers all the authorization methods.

• With the help of interceptors you can modify the outgoing and incoming data just like middleware.

PM2

• PM2 is used to start, stop, reload and monitor Node.js applications.

• You can reload your application without interruptions.

• You can access the server logs when the server is in production mode.

• PM2 manages the resources and memory used by the CPU.

• You can manage server activity programmatically.

Moment.js

• It helps if you are working with date manipulation.

• It is a secure and maintained time calculation library.

• It solves problems of formatting, parsing, converting, and working with different forms of time.

• You can write the date and time in any timezone and convert it to another time zone with the help of the functions built in Moment.js.

• You can easily convert the format of date and time.

Nodemon

• This is the tool commonly used in the development phase.

• This restarts the node server when file changes are detected in a current working directory.

• It is used through the command line.

• It reduces development time.

To conclude, Node.js is highly recommended for organisations and programmers. While Node.js is evolving with time, its developers claim that it was downloaded more than 360 million times in 2018.