There was a time when Procedural languages were the only way to communicate with computers. Procedural languages like C did their jobs quite efficiently, and are still in practice for an array of developments.
Then came a time when OOPS made its way in and everything just became for modular. Use C++ or Java to create an object, and use it throughout the project anytime anywhere. However, this was not it. Several other advancements occurred and gave birth to modern programming languages and scripts like Servlets, PHP, C#, ASP, and last but not least — JavaScript.
Developed earlier as a scripting language for UI development, JavaScript today is the favorite programming language of many. Over 69.8% of eCommerce developers worldwide use JavaScript for development.
JavaScript has the ability to be a front-end scripting language as well as an efficient language for server-side programming too. That’s where Node.js comes into the picture. The abilities of the script make it a perfect language for not just server-side programming, but Node.js for eCommerce development has become a standard to develop massive scales eCommerce sites like Amazon and eBay.
This article will explain 5 more reasons that advocate Node.js and explains why a Node.js shopping cart is more reliable than any other solution of any scale.
What exactly is Node.js in formal terms?
Initially, Node.js was developed as a script to write front end code. However today, it has found its way to a much wider range of applications:
- It is called as an open-source server environment, and also as an open-source JavaScript run-time environment.
- Google built is on its Chrome V8 JavaScript engine and made it capable of running on almost every platform: Windows, Linux, UNIX, and Mac OS X.
- The reason why it’s used for both server-side and front end scripting is that it works on an event-driven non-blocking I/O model, which is capable of writing both on server-side and client-side applications.
- Moreover, It can also collect data from forms, and perform database operations without changing the syntax.
By the time Node.js for eCommerce become prevalent, a number of other programming languages were also getting fame; PHP, Python, Java and many more. PHP is still one of the biggest competitors when it comes to eCommerce development.
With successful projects like WordPress, Magento, PrestaShop, Shopify, and OpenCart, PHP proved that it’s a versatile technology. However, there is much about Node.js that makes Node.js shopping carts more simple, versatile, faster and scalable.
1. Node.js is modern with an up-to-date code base
Node.js is still a newborn baby if we consider other eCommerce technologies. It means that the code base is modern and according to the contemporary challenges that developer face, and this is indeed true considering the advantages Node.js gives.
For example, PHP’s LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) is more complexed than the MEAN or MERN stacks. The MEAN stack with MongoDB, Express, Angular 2, and Node and MERN stack with MongoDB, Express.js, React, and Node.js, use updated tools, latest security methods, and a huge base library. We will understand this in the subsequent points as well.
2. Node.js uses a faster NoSQL instead of relational database
Node.js works both with SQL and NoSQL databases like MongoDB and Couch DB. It executes the queries using graph-based database systems like Neo4j. In addition to that, it’s also compatible with JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), which makes it work even without SQL.
You don’t have to switch between different database syntaxes for executing front-end and back-end queries. You can use the same Node.js syntax on the server side and database that you use for client-side scripting. This also makes the NoSQL database non-relational database, which is, of course, faster than other relational databases.
3. Node.js makes system lightning fast with asynchronous compiling
Most other programming language today use a relational database, while Node.js can also use NoSQL, which is one of the reasons why Node.js is so fast.
However, there is one more reason that makes Node.js even ten-folds faster. Unlike any other programming language, Node.js allows asynchronous code compilation. It means the JavaScript engine compiles your whole program at once and does not wait for the prevailing lines to execute in a defined sequence.
Hence, it becomes a non-blocking input/output asynchronous programming language that will generate the output for the individual lines, irrespective of the lines above it executed or not. Below is an example of how to implement the non-blocking I/O architecture in Node.js.
You need to use the promise proxy value to call asynchronous processes: resolve or reject. Having done that, call ‘then’ function through the promise value for taking two asynchronous functions as two different parameters.
Now, if it’s meets the condition, the first function will be called. Else, second function reject will execute in case the condition is failed:
var myPromise = new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
request.get(options, function(err, resp, body) {
if (err) {
reject(err);
} else {
resolve(JSON.parse(body));
}
})
})
4. Functional inheritance in Node.js is quick and adaptable
PHP utilizes prototypal inheritance, which is quick and adaptable. In any case, Node.js additionally gives you a chance to use functional inheritance for a less complex and sans trap framework. For example, PHP’s prototypical inheritance is without a doubt quicker, yet not effectively implementable in real execution.
You need to consider both the super constructors and the inherit function to implement it. Doing as such makes your program increasingly inclined to mistakes as you can’t pass a method as a callback parameter without using a wrapper function.
In most of the situations, the functional inheritance is easier to implement in Node.js than PHP’s Prototypal inheritance. It is easier in Node.js to bind the methods to their instances. Functional inheritance with node js gives a better performance benchmark and helps you avoid the redundant calling of methods.
5. NPM’s online repository makes it resourceful yet lightweight
NPS is a boon to Node.js projects. It gives you instant access to a huge online repository of node.js open-source projects. Moreover, you can use a command-line interface and fetch the required resources right from the repository for tasks such as package installation, update management, version control, and dependency control.
With NPM, any Node.js projects become lightweight as you can always re-use code from the repository instead of adding a new one. The best part is you can also download the updates in the source code for the particular code that you are already using from the repository.
Final Thoughts
I was a fan of PHP as a development technology. I still like it and prefer it for small-scale projects. However, Node.js is way scalable when it comes to building heavy shopping carts with lots of JavaScript. Both MEAN stack and LAMP stack use JavaScript, but MEAN is extremely lightweight and using JavaScript does not slow down the UI. Whereas, LAMP reacts quite unreliable to the JavaScript.
As per my familiarity with Node.js shopping cart in the market, this framework is best suited for building the websites of any scale. The kind of flexibility it offers is well optimized for building eCommerce platforms.