If you work with JavaScript, you can choose from a variety of libraries and frameworks that make everyday development efforts much easier. Node.JS and React.JS are two essential solutions from the JavaScript developer’s toolkit. How do they work? What are the differences between them? Check it out!
The selection of your tech stack is one of the most critical moments in product development. You will obviously want to select programming languages, platforms, and tools that will maximally optimize your team’s work while working in favor of your app’s performance and usability. At the same time, they should cut the development and maintenance costs. There is no magic recipe – each project is different, each needing a unique blend of tools.
In this article, we will compare the two most popular solutions to work with JavaScript, which, by the way, has quite an impressive number of frameworks and libraries behind it. Popularized with the transition from static web 1.0 to dynamic web 2.0, JavaScript became a default language for web development, soon spreading to other areas, which resulted in JS tools popping up.
Today, you can choose from a number of tools to use for both web and mobile, regardless of the platform. Node.JS and React JS are the two we decided to focus on. Both are continuing to gain popularity and establish a strong community around them, which is one of the most crucial benefits for developers. However, they serve quite
React.js and node.js – comparison
Let’s start from the basics, comparing the structure of both solutions. The first thing you need to know is that while React.JS is just a library (one step less in terms of complexity than a framework), Node.JS is something more – a JavaScript runtime built on the V8 JavaScript engine. You can use Node.JS with various frameworks and libraries – actually, it has all the sets of them built-in to facilitate the development process.
Another aspect to mention is the purpose for which you use both of these tools. Node.JS was created to adopt JavaScript for the server-side. It helps developers create robust backends, particularly web servers. React.JS, on the other hand, focuses on the view layer of an application, allowing developers to create seamless user interfaces. Although primarily created for the purposes of the web, you can also use it to create desktop apps or mobile ones (if you reach out for React Native).
As you can see, there are more differences than similarities between these two tools. However, there is one thing that connects them – the broad spectrum of benefits that each provides.
Node.js – benefits
Node.js allows concurrent request handling thanks to its asynchronous, event-driven I/O. The event loop, a distinctive feature of Node.js, makes it perfect for data-intensive applications with various API integrations, such as, for instance, any social media platform. The event loop is constantly accepting new requests while still processing existing ones, ensuring that the application can continue running without pause. This feature also makes Node.JS very scalable, attracting companies that foresee rapid growth.
Note that Node.JS has also one of the fastest-growing communities and a low learning curve if you already have the foundations of JavaScript. So, if you have a team of JS devs, you will not have to wait long for them to master this runtime environment.
React.JS – benefits
React JS is versatile and lightweight, guaranteeing better website or application performance, with faster interface updates. Besides, thanks to the virtual DOM, developers no longer have to worry about transitions. At the same time, React.JS is a component-based library, allowing devs to reuse its elements, saving themselves a lot of repetitive work. Reusable components also guarantee better consistency across different versions of the product.
As you can see, these two tools do not have much in common, but you can combine both for comprehensive results. Working with Node.js in application development, you can incorporate component-based libraries like React into your tech stack. Good luck!
