Node.js the JavaScript run-time engine developed caught everyone’s attention from the time of its debut. With an impressive list of industry giants like Walmart, LinkedIn, Amazon, Uber, Netflix adopting node.js, it is the favorite of developers. According to research, the number of e-commerce brands globally is very huge and so is the competition.
Planning to start an e-commerce business is an apt decision, especially in this digital era. But you should start by choosing the right platform to develop your e-commerce website. The primary reason developers rave about node.js for e-commerce development is as it is a great platform to develop robust applications.
Why node.js for e-commerce store development
Node.js is a highly scalable framework that allows you to create event-based and non-blocking I/O applications efficiently. It leverages asynchronous programming that allows you to maximize memory and facilitate single CPU usage, that in turn helps you to handle concurrent user requests. These benefits make node.js e-commerce development the ideal solution to build real-time e-commerce applications.
Read on to know more about what makes node.js excellent for e-commerce development.
It’s single-threaded and highly scalable
Node.js is a single-threaded framework, but it supports concurrency through the events and call-back. Node thread has event loops, and once a task is finished, it triggers the corresponding event that causes the event-listener function to execute. Some say the single-threaded nature makes node.js slow, which is not really true.
When you consider non-event driven frameworks, there is a need to create multiple parallel threads to handle multiple requests. At a given point, there is a limitation to the number of requests that can be processed as there is a serious limitation to the number of parallel threads that can be executed. However, with node.js, there is no limit on the number of thread that runs simultaneously. As long as there is sufficient memory and the kernel allows, any number of parallel requests can be handled without interruption.
Open source nature
The major benefit of node.js is that you receive access to professional and expert programmers, as it is open source. In case you need help with code rectification, you can get the help of experts. It facilitates code sharing among developers without sharing business logic publicly. Developers can also plan to adopt new versions based on the regular development cycle they follow. All major releases of the framework will be maintained for at least 18 months.
Micro services-based architecture
Node.js works on a micro service-based architecture that ensures both horizontal and vertical scaling. This ensures that the wastage of resources is less. With e-commerce, it is common for you to get into a big project that your development team may struggle to complete. You will have to add unique features along with offering great performance. However, as the project gets more complex, implementing new changes become tough. Node.js also have less resource footprint when it comes to CPU and RAM usage as well. Following a microservice platform makes node.js handy to tackle specific tasks resulting in much faster node.js shopping cart development.
Vast NPM registry
Another excellent node.js feature would be the vast NPM registry it has. Node.js has above 190,000 modules with a lot more being added every single day. All the modules are open source and are easily available and accessible by developers. It is easily accessible on GitHub for you to use as freely as you want to suit any project. This open source nature and the flexibility of node.js enhances the creativity of developers and also enriches and improves satisfaction.
Asynchronous programming
Node.js is asynchronous in nature which ensures efficient and fast code execution. An asynchronous code executes having no order or dependency. Let’s understand this by reading a file in node.js both in a synchronous and asynchronous way to see the inputs.
When the file is read using the synchronous interface of the fs module, the next line of code executes only after the previous operation is completed. The content variable will have the content of file.md.
Now let’s see what happens in asynchronous programming.
Here you can see error handling and no return value.
The output looks like this
Known for great speed
As node.js uses chrome V8 engine which offers excellent speed while running web-based applications, node.js delivers optimal speed. In addition, as delivers non-blocking I/O operations, the speed and performance are considerably enhanced. You also don’t have to be concerned about security, especially when it comes to integrating the payment gateway feature in the e-commerce platform. Industry giants like Walmart and PayPal drive benefits like increased web traffic from node.js shopping cart speed.
Cross-platform nature
One of the major advantages of node.js is that it is essentially a cross development platform. In case of other programming languages and frameworks, the developer needs to be well-versed in a couple of programming languages to code both client-side and server-side applications. However, with node.js, it can be implemented as both client-side and server-side development. This allows developers to reuse the code in case of any modifications. This also calls for cost-effectiveness as you require one or two developers who can work on both client-side and server-side development instead of hiring a separate team for both.
Conclusion
As the e-commerce space is changing every day, it is important to adapt as soon as you can. With more possibilities and newest features adapted to e-commerce stores, you need an exceptional development platform to cope up with the competition. Node.js is excellent to support a buyer’s journey that involves several actions and operations. On a daily basis, there would be hundreds of adding products to cart, choosing payment types and lots of action going on. That is why you need to choose a platform that can handle these multiple tasks at the same time. Node.js is not any new framework which is likely to fade in the near future, it is here to stay forever long and the way large corporations are using it is a clear sign that it is going to be here for long.
