The popularity of Node.js has grown in recent years. With the developers going crazy over the technology, businesses are focusing on the potentialities of Node.JS. If we look at the statistics:
- Node.js is the most popular in the U.S -- almost 28,000 websites use it, according to Similar Tech.
- Node.js powers the backend of the big online marketplaces like eBay, AliExpress.
- Node.js is used by high traffic websites, such as Netflix, PayPal, Groupon, according to W3techs.
Node.js has its own set of advantages, which have a positive impact on startups and big global businesses. As we look forward to welcoming this new year Node.js, has something new in store for its lovers.
Let’s explore some trends that could help you leverage your potential and have an extra edge over your competitors in 2020.
Upcoming Node.js Trends to Watch in 2020
Trend #1: MEAN & MERN Stack
Both MEAN (MongoDB, Express, Angular, Node.JS) and MERN (MongoDB, Express, React, Node.JS) stacks are the powerful stacks. These are two fastest-growing open source development frameworks that help developers to develop complex web and mobile apps and front-end web applications, respectively.
The big tech company, Netflix, uses the MERN stack for a smooth flow of the web development process. Here’s a technology stack of Netflix:
Trend #2: Serverless Architecture
The next node.js trend for 2020, serverless, is already used in production by companies like Netflix, AOL, Reuters, and Telenor.
The industry-wise adoption is continuously growing because going serverless means that there’s no need to take care of the servers running in the application. With serverless architecture, the server management and provisioning are outsourced. It saves time and lets you introduce new features. So, this trend gives reason to businesses for hands-on serverless architecture to stay compliant.
Let’s check out some benefits of building a serverless solution with Node.js:
- Improved code quality
- Reduced project cost
- Reusable code modules
- Increased flexibility
Trend #3: Real-time Apps
Building real-time apps is the most common use case of Node.js that will rule in 2020. The apps with the real-time feature can generate a greater degree of user engagement. The platforms like social networks, live chats, gaming apps, live chats, ad servers, or stock exchange software where speed is everything. Node.js apps can serve thousands of servers for data-intensive and real-time IoT devices & apps. However, in real-time apps, there is a risk of overloading the server is extremely high. But Node.js makes the collaboration environment update seamlessly due to Event API and Web Sockets. Trello is the best example a web-app where a real-time collaboration pattern is implemented.
Here are some real-time apps examples that can be built with Node.js:
- Video Conference App
- Document Sharing
- Voice over Internet Protocol
- Online Gaming
- Community Storage Solution
- e-Commerce Transactions like stockbroking
- Chatting Apps
- Instant Messaging like WhatsApp
So Node.js has become the technology of choice for building real-time apps as it is fast and scalable.
Trend #4: GraphQL
An alternative to RESTful API, GraphQL lets the client specify exactly what data it needs. It also makes easier to aggregate data from multiple sources. An emerging Node.js trend, GraphQL has grown with incredible speed over the last two years. The reason behind the growing popularity of GraphQL is that it streamlines the workflow on multiple platforms. Furthermore, it can be integrated with React via the relay framework.
Trend #5: Internet of Things (IoT)
Node.js is a runtime environment to run IoT app software and a good fit for building IoT apps because it lets you implement microservices, real-time capabilities, and data-centric approaches. The main advantage of using Node.js in IoT applications is faster and real-time execution. Node.js occupies less memory and low resource requirements on the server-side. Therefore, developers can create scalable and efficient applications.
Trend #6: Microservices
The next emerging trend is microservices, an architectural approach, which is based on building an app as a collection of small services. It is helpful in the maintainability of code. It is an alternative method to a serverless approach. Microservices written in Node.js is best-fitted for enterprise-level projects for improving maintainability and eliminating the debt of their current stack.
So the microservices pattern allows for independent scalability, independent development & deployment, and reusability.
Trend #7: Cloud-Native apps
Node.js reduces the hardware dependency of solutions to a great extent. That is what makes it an excellent fit for cloud applications. It does not only help to build cloud-native apps from scratch, but it can also be deployed in scaling the existing cloud apps.
While the benefits of cloud-native apps with Node.js are more evident, businesses need to be looking forward to implementing this technology in 2020.
Conclusion
Node.js plays an essential role in the technology stack and offers cheaper, extremely scalable, resilient, and independent services. These trends will surely play a decisive role in Node.js web app development.