Why Choose Node.js For Real-Time Application Development
- Web
- August 28, 2020
In this digital era when time’s value is growing constantly, developing apps that users can interact with in real-time has become a regulation for most of the developers. Whether it’s a web app, desktop app, or a mobile app, each has at least one real-time feature incorporated. For instance, two highly used real-time features included in apps are real-time messaging and notifications.
What Does A Real-Time App Do?
Real-time apps perform many functions within a period and the user feels that it is occurring in real-time or instantly. Community storage solutions, VoIP (voice over internet protocol), some eCommerce transactions, instant messaging, chatting, online gaming, and video conference apps are the best instances of real-time apps.
Where Are Real-Time Apps Used?
As mentioned earlier, notification delivery and messaging are two prime use cases for real-time apps. The real-time apps are used for several purposes:
Real-Time Notification Delivery
When it comes to increasing user involvement with apps, allowing real-time notifications has become a game-changer. This is why you would hardly find a modern app that doesn’t deliver real-time notifications to its users.
Real-Time Messaging
Many people know the usage of real-time messaging apps, particularly in mobile devices, in the form of Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and many other messaging apps.
Nevertheless, real-time messaging is utilized not restricted to just messaging apps. You can find real-time messaging features in collaborative platforms, delivery apps, and on-demand taxi booking apps.
Real-Time Tracking
With the launch of on-demand delivery app and taxi booking apps like Uber, tracking the progress of the deliveries or taxi rides of users in real-time has become a necessity. Their real-time progress updates enhance the reliability and usability of these apps.
Live Streaming
Real-time live streaming is becoming more famous among users after social hubs integrated live video streams to their apps. Facebook and Instagram live video streaming features are the best examples of live video streams.
IoT Devices
Real-time features are necessitous for IoT devices. Data secured by the sensors posited in IoT gadgets are transmitted, processed, and showcased to the end-users with a minimal delay.
As maximum inputs secured by these gadgets, like lighting and temperature, continuously transform with the time, apps functioning with IoT devices must be capable of sending and receiving data in real-time.
Role of Node.js in Real-Time Apps
The applications where speed is important and scalability is something that requires continuous focus, Node.js helps with its event-driven features and non-blocking I/O.
Node.js offers constant two-way connections to applications like forums, social media, stock exchange software, and ad servers. For real-time, data-intensive apps and IoT devices, the Node.js is pondered as the technology of choice as it is scalable and quick also.
A Node.js development company follows the best programming practices when it works on a project. Hence, an app built utilizing node enables the server and client to exchange data and communicate freely.
Advantages of Node.js in Real-Time Application Development
Here are top benefits of using Node.js in real-time application development:
1. Event-Based Server
Real-time applications deal with many real-time users. Node.js development supports response depending on the event-driven server that assists in non-blocking functioning.
2. Data Sync
A Node.js developer makes the proper use of the non-blocking I/O feature. Data transmission between server and client shifts quickly.
3. Scalable and Fast
Since Node is a JavaScript-based program, it pulls the application faster like JS. Therefore, an application with the single-threaded model and the event loop can deal with several client requests easily.
4. Sharing and Reusing
Node.js is a real-time programming language that assists the microservice architecture. It allows developers to use the library code package again and share it in many projects. Moreover, it helps developers in fostering enhanced productivity and saving time.
5. SEO Friendliness
SEO is necessitous to exist in the digital world. In case you don’t want to lose out on SEO, then you should incorporate the Node in the app development tech stack. Node.js’s backend rendering increases engagement and provides the site more visibility.
The applications receive not just user experience and high speed but also a high-end performance that is important for ranking according to SEO features decided by Google.
6. Proxy Server
Node is also the best option where intermediary admins are needed. For using Node.js server as a proxy server, a developer requires adding a 20-line code and your app will become an ideal fir for assisting for streaming data from different sources.
Suitability of Node.js for Real-Time Application Development
The relevant framework can be Feather.JS or Express.JS. In Feather.JS, you will find good Socket.IO integration. Socket.IO library and Express.JS framework are required for developing an easy chat app by using Node.js.
Socket.IO
With real-time web apps, it performs like the top-notch JavaScript library. Between server and web clients, it creates a bi-directional and real-time connection by assisting developers. There is a client-side library in the browser, and for Node.js, there is a server-side library.
Both elements feature the same API. Like Node.js, it is event-driven. The Socket.IO offers the capacity of carrying out binary streaming, document collaboration, instant messaging, and real-time analytics.
Express.JS
It performs like a Node.js framework that utilizes many effective features that help organize the routing of the app. It can simply deal with any templating solution. Node.js’s basic functionality is increased by it. Moreover, it allows a better code organization.
Node.js: An Ideal Fit for Real-Time App Development
While building real-time apps like gaming and chat applications, Node.js enjoys amazing features. It is perfect for the programs that require non-blocking driven servers and an event-based server.
