Node.js is a free, open-sourced, cross-platform JavaScript run-time environment that lets developers write command line tools and server-side scripts outside of a browser.
In this article, we collected a few tips that we think Node.js developers should know,
1. USE ASYNCHRONOUS NODE.JS FUNCTIONS :-
Asynchronous is heavily used in Node.js to make certain non-blocking operations flow. It permits a system to cope with lots of concurrent requests and procedure gigabytes of data with a small amount of RAM. Asynchronous I/O allows other processing to proceed even before the first transmission has finished. Asynchronous helps to keep away from the so-called “Call-back Hell”
2. HANDLE UNCAUGHT EXCEPTIONS IN NODE.JS :-
We can catch the uncaught exceptions thrown in the application in its process level. We attach a listener to the process global object to catch such events.
3. USE NODE.JS MODULES AND FRAMEWORKS :-
The strength of Node.js is backed by thousands of packages that make it easier to write your program. These programs are open sourced and they are the ecosystem of Node.js applications. Every Node.js developer will have interaction with these packages to get an extra environment friendly development workflow. Here’s some of the most useful libraries that will help ease the improvement of Node.js applications.
● Nodemon :- Helps to develop Node.js based applications by automatically restarting the application when file changes in the directory are detected.
● Restify :- It is a Node.js web service framework, which is optimized for building semantic RESTful web services (API) that are ready for production use at scale.
● Express :- It is a web application framework for Node.js that handles robust APIs and Web servers.
● Nodemailer :- Allows (easy as pie) email sending.
● Moment :- It is an insubstantial JavaScript date library for parsing, validating, manipulating, and formatting dates.
4. MAKE SEPARATE ‘APP’ AND ‘SERVER’ IN EXPRESS MODULE IN NODE.JS :-
By separating app and server in Express, we can separate the API implementation from the network-related configuration. This allows us to carry out API tests without performing network calls. This also guaranteed faster test execution and better code coverage metrics.
To achieve this separation, you should declare API and server in separate files. Here we use two files: app.js and server.js.
5. DON’T STORE TOO MUCH IN SESSIONS :-
In a typical Express web app, the session data is by default stored in memory. When you store too much data in the session, it adds significant overhead to the server. So, either you can switch to some other type of storage to keep session data or try to minimize the amount of data stored in session.
6. UNDERSTAND THE NODE.JS PACKAGE MANAGER (NPM) :-
By separating app and server in Express, we can separate the API implementation from the network-related configuration. This allows us to carry out API tests without performing network calls. This also guaranteed faster test execution and better code coverage metrics.
NPM is an easy to use package manager for the Node.js platform. It helps to install packages and manage versions and dependencies. NPM helps to install the package you want with just a single command. To use NPM, you need Node.js to be installed on your computer. For OS X and Windows, the Node.js installer has an easy to use interface and NPM is included. Developers using Linux need to run the following command in their package manager to set up Node.js which automatically install NPM in your project.
7. USE NGINX IN FRONT OF NODE :-
Nginx is a tiny and lightweight web server that can be used to reduce the load on your Node.js server. Instead of serving static files from Node, you can configure nginx to serve static content. You can also set up nginx to compress the response using gzip so that the overall response size is small. So, if you are running a production app you might want to use nginx.
8. DON’T FORGOT TO WRITE MODULE.EXPORTS :-
This is used to expose functions of a particular module or file to be used elsewhere in the project. This can be used to encapsulate all similar functions in a file which further improves the project structure.
For example, you have a file for all utils functions with util to get solutions in a different programming language of a problem statement.
9. USE NGINX IN FRONT OF NODE :-
If you are coming from a language with heavy IDE integration like Java or C# Debugging Node.js apps could get quite confusing. Many Node.js developers resort to using the “flow” debugging pattern by making use of console.log. However, there are better alternatives that are more conventional to debug Node.js apps. For example, Node.js comes packed with its own built-in debugger that you can run by calling node to debug. Node-inspector is also another interesting tool to debug your Node.js apps.
According to a GitHub report, Node Inspector is a debugger interface for node.js while using Blink Developer Tools (former WebKit Web Inspector). You can use node-inspector to debug your applications using any editor of your choice and chrome web tools.
You can do some really interesting stuff with Node-inspector such as live code changing, step debugging, and scope injection.
10. NODEFLY TO GAUGE THE PERFORMANCE :-
After developing the node.js app and once it is up and running, you will want to check its performance to make sure it is running at optimum speed. It’s a logical step for any developer to monitor their node.js app’s performance and profile. You can easily monitor the performance and profile of node.js apps by using the service called Nodefly. With a few lines of code, Nodefly will start to monitor the application for issues like memory leaks, and measure how long it takes for Redis, mongo queries, and quite a few other important stuff.