Node JS vs React: Which Framework should you Choose (and Why) to Build your Next Web App
Looking to build an amazing web application? By this time, you must have figured out that JavaScript is your way-to-go-for developing your next web development project.
If you’re confused between Node JS vs React, then you’ve come to the right place. This article will help you figure out which framework is best for your upcoming project.
Although Node JS is not as popular as React JS, it has got a lot of significance in web app development. Many Fortune 500 companies, as well as startups, use Node JS for web app development.
Node JS vs React: A Detailed Comparision
What is React JS?
Developed and maintained by Facebook, React JS is more of a JavaScript library than a framework. Using it, you can build web pages that render quite smoothly.
React has an MVC or Model View Controller architecture. Facebook introduced it intending to solve rendering issues of massive datasets in the JavaScript framework.
Why React JS?
SEO-Friendly:
Despite rendering millions of JavaScript-based web and mobile applications daily, search engines find it difficult to read JS apps that are too heavy.
Using React JS, you can easily create light-weight web and mobile applications. One can easily run React JS on the server-side, and the virtual DOM will be rendered, which will return to the browser as a regular web page.
Component-based Architecture:
Shadow DOM and Polymer JS have already created a lot of hype that they are used to build customizable elements and self-contained elements that you can import into your React JS project easily.
Using React JS, you can create components of your own, which you can later nest, reuse, or combine your core content. Hence, it will not make use of Polymer JS or Shadow DOM.
Highly Efficient:
React JS creates its own virtual DOM where you can keep all the components that you made. It takes care of every change done in the DOM and updates the DOM tree accordingly.
Moreover, it discards time-taking DOM operations and makes updates regularly. This React JS functionality increases the efficiency of a web or a mobile application.
Pros of React JS
- The Virtual DOM of React is faster as it only refreshes a portion of a web page, rather than the usual full refresh model.
- Simple to create UI test cases.
- Easy to reuse various code components.
- It can display the component in a massive amount more efficiently and quickly.
- Debugging code in React is simpler than other frameworks using a special chrome extension.
- Manual processing is required while changing data.
- React JS is view oriented.
- It renders code from the server to browsers, which improves the SEO of a website.
- React JS makes the job simple for developers because the debugging speed is high.
- React can be used to develop both Android and iOS apps.
- Rendering of hybrid applications in the Native environment is easy since React makes use of reusable components.
- One can reuse the components of the existing React Native application’s UI.
- React JS is one of the fastest-growing front-end frameworks.
- It provides support for both server-side and front-end-side.
What is Node JS?
Rather than a framework, Node JS is a server. The Google Chrome v8 JavaScript engine powers it. The primary purpose of developing applications in Node JS is to execute JavaScript on the server-side.
Node JS simplifies and streamlines the development of complex applications. Using Node JS one can create various types of applications such as command-line interface, real-time chat application, REST API, web applications, and more.
Why Node JS?
Server-side Proxy:
Node JS can explicitly be used as a Server-side proxy, which is how it handles several connections simultaneously and in a non-blocking manner.
It is primarily used when one wants to collect data from multiple source points or want to proxying various services with different response times.
Moreover, it allows you to create a client-side application for assets and stubbing API requests using the Node JS development server.
Node Package Manager(NPM):
Node Package Manager or NPM plays a crucial role in web development, which no developer can overhear. It comes as a default program with Node JS package installer.
The main idea behind NPM is to introduce concepts similar to the idea of Ruby Gems. Some of the most famous NPM modules are MongoDB, Mongo JS, Connect, BlueBird, Lodlash, Pug, Socket.io, Socket JS, and moment.
Data Streaming:
HTTP responses and requests are considered to be isolated events, but in reality, they are actual data streams. These data streams are then used in Node JS to build eye-catchy features.
This helps in proxying between various data sources as well as for real-time audio and video encoding.
Pros of Node JS
- Node JS helps developers to write server-side applications in JavaScript.
- It helps you to upscale applications in both vertical as well as horizontal fashion.
- The JavaScript engine of Google’s v8 allows you to compile the code written in JavaScript directly into machine code.
- It supports the caching of individual modules.
- Node JS is highly extensible.
- Node JS also supports web app development in real-time.
Boost user engagement on your website by developing websites using React JS and Node JS.
Conclusion
The JavaScript frameworks mentioned in this article are advanced, high-performing, and widely used by a massive community of developers.
This article can only help you identify which framework is better in which scenario. However, the decision to choose the right framework for your project literally depends on your project requirements.
If you’re planning to build a mobile application soon, then we recommend you to go with React JS. On the other hand, if you have project requirements limited to server-side, then we recommend you to go with Node JS.
Hire React JS developers from Credencys to get the right advice for your next web development project.
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