The aeon of JavaScript on the back-end is upon us. In the good old days, JavaScript was limited to the web browser and it brought the web alive. Node.JS allows you to leverage the power on JavaScript on the back-end.

In this tutorial, we will look at what Node.JS is, what it can do for you and why you definitely need to get on board with it too. Node js online tutorial

Tutorial pre-requisites

For you to successfully complete this tutorial, you will need to know the following.

·         JavaScript basic skills

·         Integrated Development Environment / Text Editor

·         Database engines (MySQL & MongoDB)

·         Web browser

What is Node.JS?

Node.JS is a runtime environment that allows you to run JavaScript on the server side. It is open source, cross-platform and uses Google’s V8 engine to interpret JavaScript. Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient.

What can you do with Node.JS?

Node.JS can be used to develop application such as;

·         Utility programs i.e.

·         Web applications

·         CHAT applications

·         Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)

·         Real-time applications

·         Games

·         And many more…

Why use Node.JS?

The following are some of the advantages of using Node.JS

·         You can use JavaScript for both the backend and frontend. If you are developing a web based application, you won’t need to use two languages i.e. PHP or ASP.Net for the backend and JavaScript for the frontend i.e. AngularJS, ReactJS etc. This makes it easier for you to develop apps

·         Built for speed – Google’s V8 JavaScript engine companies into machine code. This makes Node.JS insanely fast.

·         Node Package Manager (NPM) is the default package manager for Node.JS. It is installed when you install Node.JS and gives you access to thousands of open source packages.

·         Asynchronous Non-Blocking model makes handling concurrent requests super-fast. This because the server does not need to wait for the server to complete one task before responding to another.

Topics to be covered in the tutorial series

The following are some of the topics that will be covered in these tutorial series.

·         Node.JS Installation and Configuration– this tutorial will show you how to install and configure Node.JS

·         Node.JS Hello World – this tutorial will show you how to create a simple Hello World Node.JS application. The tutorial will show you how to create both the console application as well as a simple web based hello world app.

·         Node.JS Database MySQL – Almost every app needs to interact with a database. This tutorial will show you how to connect to MySQL using Node.JS and perform Create, Read, Update and Delete (CRUD) actions.

·         Node.JS Database MongoDB – MongoDB is a leading NoSQL database. This application will show you how to connect to MongoDB using Node.JS and perform Create, Read, Update and Delete (CRUD) actions.

·         Node.JS REST API – this tutorial shows you how to build a Node.JS database powered RESTful API.

·         …and many more - new tutorials will be added on a weekly basis.

Summary

Node.JS allows us to build JavaScript applications that run on the server side. It uses Google’s V8 JavaScript Engine to interpreter JavaScript. Node.JS can be used to create web applications, utility programs, real-time apps etc.