7 Best Node JS Libraries to Consider for Node JS Development

Looking back to the web development arena, JavaScript has come a long way and has become the most wildly popular programming language on the earth.

What was once only used for basic web designing, has now become the most important programming language of today and tomorrow.

Today, leading JavaScript frameworks like Node JS are supporting thousands of startups and businesses to earn millions of dollars in revenue.

Node JS is a JavaScript runtime environment that can sustain a huge load while providing the same level of smooth performance.

Ever since its inception, Node JS team has continuously pushed out frequent updates and by the looks of it, Node JS isn’t going to stop any time soon.

So, in this blog, we’ll celebrate the Node JS’s achievement by sharing the best Node JS libraries to consider for building Node JS applications.

7 Best Node JS Libraries

Before we begin, let us define what we mean by “best” Node JS libraries. That’s because the list of best Node JS libraries may differ depending on your perspective.

In this post, “Best” simply means a Node JS library is best compared to others for a specific purpose.

For instance, you might expect a Node JS library/package like Yargs included in this list because it’s one of the highly downloaded. But, and spoiler alert, it’s not.

We have only listed Node JS libraries that we know for sure are best for a specific purpose compared to other similar Node JS libraries.

That being said, let’s dive right in!

1 – Express

Express is although a JavaScript framework, but it also works as a library in Node JS. In fact, Express is one of the leading Node JS libraries for quickly developing web applications and APIs.

What sets Express apart from other similar Node JS libraries is its minimal structure. It gives a solid outline to Node JS developers for quickly building functional web applications.

It’s for this reason, many well-known companies like IBM, Uber, and many others have adopted it in their production.

2 – Async.js

Originally built to use with Node JS, Async is actually a utility module that provides over 20 powerful functions to increase the performance of a Node JS application by eliminating the render-blocking JavaScript.

Render-blocking is basically responsible for not loading any JavaScript content placed in ‘above the fold’ part of a page until the JavaScript itself has finished loading in a web page.

As a result, it affects the performance of a website.

This is where Async.js comes into the picture. With Async.js, you can load all JavaScript content alongside every other part of a web page faster than render-blocking.

In fact, Asynchronous has reinvented the way JavaScript interact with web applications.

3 – Request – Simplified HTTP Client

Modern-day web applications often require dealing with external HTTP calls for loading or fetching data from different external sources.

Therefore, it’s critical to have a reliable way to perform HTTP calls.

Request, a simplified HTTP client, is the most reliable HTTP client libraries that are out there.

With Request library, you can make a large number of HTTP calls easily, reliably, and securely to access content and data from external sources on the web.

4 – Socket.IO

Imagine a scenario where you had access to tools that can help you build a real-time Analytics application just as powerful as Google Analytics is today.

Socket.io allows you to build truly powerful and real-time applications where you can stream data or content directly externally through APIs.

One popular example where Socket.io has been used in a Twitter bot for collecting the latest news. Besides this Twitter bot, there are over thousands of companies including Trello and Banksalad using Socket.io to integrate real-time functionality in their applications.

5 – Underscore

Underscore is a popular Node JS library that offers a multitude of useful functional programming helpers.

In simple words, Underscore makes the web application development process a much more enjoyable affair through its rapid development workflow and also the programming helpers.

There are over 100 functional programming helpers embedded in the Underscore that fills the gap from opening an HTML document to writing code without having to worry about how complex functions operate.

6 – PM2

Node JS framework is often recommended when it comes to building large-scale applications.

But Node JS alone cannot do everything to build a successful large-scale application. Along with the Node JS, you also have to have proper process management.

PM2 offers both, proper process management and a load balancer to help with performance tweaks.

Simply put, PM2 gives you the tools to reload apps without any downtime, making your application stay online indefinitely.

7 – UglifyJS2

Performance is an important factor when it comes to building successful web applications. The more performance you can squeeze out, the faster your application is going to be.

Tech giants like Google have often talked about how, even a millisecond of performance increase, can gain you more business.

This is where UglifyJS2 comes into the picture.

UglifyJS2 basically helps Node JS developers to minify and trim your JavaScript files automatically, which can ultimately have a huge impact on your overall application’s performance.

Apart from this, UglifyJS2 also easy-to-use, flexible, and helps to saves those little bits of space and load-times so that you can gain the performance margins your application needs.

Conclusion

With this, we’ve now finally listed the 7 best Node JS libraries to build Node JS applications. If you happen to be a Node JS developer, we would love to hear your thoughts on this list down in the comment section below.

On the other hand, if you’re a business or company looking to hire Node JS developer for your next project, we can help you build top-notch applications, just like we’ve done for world-class brands like Cisco, Samsung, and many others.

What is React JS? Why Startups and Enterprises love React JS for Front-End Development?

React, React, React! It has now become a buzzword among the front-end developer community. React JS has become a synonym of front-end development. Be it a startup or an enterprise; everyone is rushing towards React for front-end development.

According to a survey by Stack Overflow, React has been the most loved front-end framework by developers all over the world.

Before understanding why and how React JS can upscale your business by increasing customer engagement 2x, it is paramount that you first understand what is React JS.

What is React JS?

Maintained by Facebook and a community of millions of developers, React JS is a JavaScript library. It is mainly used to develop user interfaces of web and mobile applications. It works on the aspect of Model View Controller or MVC.

Developers often use React as a base for developing single-page web applications and then use other libraries to provide extra support to their web application.

Why Startups and Enterprises love React JS (Top 10 Reasons)?

#1 Virtual DOM

Virtual DOM is a modern-day marvel for businesses. It helps you create a data structure cache memory within a memory unit, which allows you to update the browser DOM more efficiently.

#2 Development Speed

Time-to-market is one of the most crucial elements of any business, be it a startup or an enterprise.

Businesses are always looking for using technologies that help them to complete software development projects on-time and within the defined budget.

React JS has a plethora of reusable components which help developers to develop and maintain an application faster. Moreover, React powers React Native, which is a robust cross-platform mobile app development tool.

Having such interoperability helps businesses to build a strong mobile presence as well, along with the web.

#3 Stability

The technology used to develop web or mobile applications must remain relevant for at least a few years. With technology growing so fast, it is evident that the tools used to create applications may get obsolete in the future.

Having been backed by millions of developers and enterprises like Facebook and Instagram, the chances of it getting obsolete are negligible. React JS has been a stable technology even in the face of growing competition, such as Vue JS and Angular JS.

#4 Interactive Interface

React JS provides an opportunity to manipulate the interface flows and designing features in a fast and easy way.

You can hire React JS developers to update or develop an interface based on your tastes, desires, and principles. It can be done in two ways: loop and nest view.

#5 Advance Performance

React JS is a pro when it comes to handling graphics on a variety of devices such as a tablet, smartphone, or desktop.

It seamlessly loads any webpage on either of the devices mentioned above. React does it by automatically updating the on-page apps that do not require a reload for redrawing UI.

#6 Simple to use

One of the prominent reasons why React is one of the most loved libraries among developers is because of its simplicity. According to many developers, it is simpler than Angular JS.

React JS development simplifies the process of programming, development, and hence, administration of resources. React JS is not only a perfect framework for newbie developers but also an ideal framework for experts and experienced programmers.

Although React JS is simple to use, it has got all the advanced level functions and capability that can help pro-developers to create stunning webpages.

#7 Alternatives

Being an open-source library, React JS acts as a stone that can kill two birds at a time.

Developers can use React JS as the base library as well as an alternative to other libraries such as Angular, Backbone, jQuery, and more. React JS extensions comprise of all the functions available in these libraries.

Moreover, these extensions are prolonged with a broad spectrum of other functions, simplifications, additions, and useful changes, which have been implemented in React.

#8 Flexible Development

Businesses took the arrival of React JS for granted. They thought that it was just another library which would give its share in simplifying web development.

But, the truth is that React does more than simplifying web development. It has helped many developers to reduce several restrictions that hindered the process of web development.

React help developers to deal with future problems and strategy to govern the web development project one of the most comfortable and flexible ways.

#9 SEO-Friendly

Excluding the enterprises and startups in a monopoly business, every company requires to do SEO on their websites. They must rank higher on search engines. Using Node JS, React can render on servers easily.

It helps search engines to crawl the web application in its final form, making it simpler for webpages to index it properly.

Although some techniques and technologies can produce similar results, they are unstable and unsuitable for mission-critical applications.

React JS has been tried and tested by several organizations in the world for creating high-quality and reliable front-end and making the site SEO-friendly.

#10 Access to Developers

Being one of the most popular frameworks among the developer community, React JS is a framework which many developers opt to learn.

Hence, finding a React JS developer will be easier for you. Moreover, it is simpler to train a developer with React JS, who has a basic knowledge of JavaScript and front-end development.

Concluding Thoughts

It is quite evidential that React JS is your way to go for front-end development. Start from searching for an appropriate developer to maintaining and deploying the application, React JS provides a flawless experience to businesses.

Whether you are a startup looking to cut development costs or an enterprise looking to increase the conversion rate, React JS has all the capabilities to help you achieve your business goals.

FAQs on What is React JS

Q:1 – Is React JS a frontend or backend framework?

Ans: React JS is a frontend framework created by Facebook. Like any other frontend framework, it can work with most backends including Rails, PHP, Node.js, etc and can be served through any web server such as NGINX, Apache, and so on.

Q:2 – Why is React better?

Ans: One of the main reasons why React is better is because it provides developers with an ability to work on a virtual browser, which is more friendly than the actual internet browser. This virtual browser, in fact, acts as an agent between the actual browser and the developer.

Q:3 – What are the advantages of using React JS?

Ans: There are many advantages of using React JS and we’ve listed the key advantages below:

  • Guarantees stable code
  • SEO-friendly
  • Provides faster rendering
  • Boosts developers’ productivity
  • Helpful developer toolset
  • And so on…

Q:4 – Who uses React JS?

Ans: React JS is created and maintained by Facebook and today it is being used by 8183 companies worldwide out of which there are many reputed companies like Uber, Airbnb, Netflix, Twitter, and so on.


What is Node JS? The Most Popular JavaScript Framework Explained!

JavaScript’s rapidly rising popularity has brought notable advancements in the world of web app development.

For instance, we can finally build real-time web applications with two-way connections where both server and client can initiate communication and exchange data freely, all thanks to Node.js.

Another notable change that JavaScript witnessed after Node.js’s arrival is its ability to unify data format (JSON) with the language, which ultimately allows companies to optimally reuse developer resources.

Although, this is much of a JavaScript advantage than Node.js, but it’s still wise to add Node.js in your web application development stack.

What is Node JS?

Node.js, as you already probably know, is an open-source, cross-platform, JavaScript runtime environment that enables developers to execute JavaScript on the server.

In simple words, Node.js allows developers to write server-side scripting, while also executing JavaScript to create dynamic web pages on the front-end.

It is built on Google Chrome’s JavaScript engine that makes it possible to build fast and scalable web applications. The event-driven, non-blocking I/O model in Node.js what makes the framework lightweight and perfect for developing real-time web applications.

Besides this, Node.js also has a rich library of different kinds of JavaScript modules, which greatly simplifies the Node JS Development process.

Some JavaScript History Before Node JS

JavaScript came into existence in 1995 and since then it has taken over as the dominant language of the web. However, JavaScript was used, for the majority of its life, as a client-side scripting language to execute on the web browsers.

This limitation forced web developers to use a multitude of frameworks and programming languages for building web applications.

Though there were other projects that focused on bringing JavaScript to the server-side of web applications, but Node.js was first to make JavaScript code run on the server-side possible.

What is Node JS Used For?

Node.js, for its multitude of advantages, plays an important role in the technology stack of many high-profile brands today.

International brands and enterprise-level companies have utilized Node.js in production for developing different sorts of web applications.

Below, we’ve composed a list of hands-on solutions you can build by using Node.js.

  • Single-Page Applications
  • Data-Intensive Real-Time Applications
  • I/O Bound Applications
  • JSON APIs-Based Applications
  • Data Streaming Applications
  • Rest APIs
  • Command Line Tools

Why Use Node JS?

Now that you know what is Node JS used for, it’s time we jump onto the important point – Why use Node JS and not other available options in the market.

There are multiple reasons to use Node JS. Below, we’ve shared the most important reasons that explain why use Node JS in your next web application development project.

1 – V8 Engine

Though Node.js is not a Ford Mustang GT, but it also has a V8 engine. It is basically a JavaScript Engine built by Google that converts the JavaScript code into machine code, making the execution process extremely fast compared to other server-side frameworks.

2 – Rich Ecosystem

The Node.js has a rich ecosystem with a wide range of ready-to-use tools for building high-performance Nodejs applications.

The Node.js Package Manager (also known as NPM) amounts to over 700K today. You can easily search, install, and reuse any packages to save yourself from rewriting the same lines of code over and over again.

3 – Asynchronous Non-Blocking I/O

Node.js allows developers to process thousands of requests parallelly without any trouble. This, as a result, reduces RAM consumption and provides way faster performance.

4 – Full-Stack Development Environment

Node.js has played a critical role in increasing JavaScript adoption worldwide. As you already probably know, Node.js is the first JavaScript framework that paved its way to the server-side.

As a result, today startups to companies and large-scale enterprises have adopted it to build both front-end as well as back-ends of their products.

In laymen’s terms, Node.js has drastically cut the development time as well as costs since it eliminates the need for using multiple programming languages and thus hiring different engineers to build a web application.

5 – Microservices Architecture

Microservices, recently, has gained massive popularity over the monolithic one.

As Node.js offers a wide range of ready-to-use modules and event-driven non-blocking I/O model, it has allowed Netflix and other popular companies to adopt the practice of breaking their app to implement microservices solutions.

Popular Node JS Examples: Companies That Use Node JS

Node.js is wildly popular, not just amongst developers but also amongst big brands & tech giants. Microsoft, Netflix, and Paypal are just a few top companies that have embraced Node.js in their software products.

So, what are the other popular Node JS examples?

What are the other famous companies that use Node JS?

We’ve gathered information on which famous companies that use Node JS and written an entirely separate blog post.

In the above blog, you will find why Netflix, NASA, and other companies have adopted the Node JS technology and what exactly did they gain from it.

Spoiler Alert: You’ll be blown away with the growth they’ve witnessed!

Bonus: Node JS Interview Questions to Prepare

If you’re a Node JS developer, having interviews lined up for your next job, then the following Node JS interview questions will help you nail the interview confidently.

These are the questions that we (and most other IT companies) usually ask while interviewing the candidates. We will start from the basics to move towards some advanced questions that you should expect to be asked in your job interview.

On the other hand, if you’re a business looking to hire Node JS Developer for your projects, asking these questions can help you determine whether a candidate is a right fit for the job or not.

Without any further ado, let’s check them out.

  • What is Node JS? And What is Node JS used for?
  • What is the difference between non-blocking and asynchronous?
  • What is Event Loop in Node JS?
  • What is an error-first callback?
  • What is a callback and how can you avoid callback hell?
  • What are promises in Node JS?
  • What is NPM and what are its main functionalities?
  • What is an exit code in Node JS?
  • What is Steams in Node JS?
  • What is a Test Pyramid? Explain with an example.

Now, since most of the questions mentioned above can be answered in different ways, feel free to personalize your answer or add your work experience related to each question.

Conclusion

To summarize, Node JS is a powerful backend technology that can help you build modern web applications. In fact, we bet that once you use embrace Node JS into your existing project or a new one, you’ll eventually ask yourself “Why not use Node JS”?

Best Node JS Frameworks: The Definitive Guide (list of top 11 frameworks)

Ever since Node.js came out, it brought exponential growth in the usage of JavaScript programming language.

For instance, a majority of developers switched to JavaScript to build web applications, which ultimately made JavaScript the #1 programming language of the web.

Node.js is basically a cross-platform, open-source runtime environment designed to build scalable & fast server-side applications.

The non-blocking I/O model, event-driven attribute, and single-threaded asynchronous programming make Node.js efficient and lightweight. These three features have, in fact, led many brands and enterprises to adopt Node.js in their production.

For example, Netflix, Uber, and Paypal are a few companies that have adopted Node JS.

If you want to get in the details, then here’s an in-depth blog on 5 Famous Companies that use Node JS.

Of all the features that Node.js has to offer, the fact that you can use the same programming language for front-end and back-end is what increased rapid adoption of Node.js.

As a result, it led JavaScript developers to build numerous impressive JavaScript frameworks for developing modern web applications.

If you want to know what kind of applications you can build with Node JS, we’ve written a comprehensive article on Node JS Use Cases to get a better idea where Node JS should be used.

In this article, I will list 11 best Node.js frameworks that we’ve personally used for building dozens of web applications for our clients.

Top Node.js Frameworks to Consider in 2019

Here are the top 11 Node.js frameworks that will help you build better, fast, and scalable web applications, especially on the server-side.

That being said, let’s dive right in!

1 – Total.js

Total.js is a modular Node.js framework that uses MVC architecture. Besides Node.js, Total.js is also fully compatible with Backbone.js, Angular, Bootstrap, Polymer, and a few other front-end JavaScript frameworks.

Total.js, just like the Node.js, is also asynchronous and extensible. But, the best part about Total.js is that it doesn’t require any kind of tools such as Grunt, for example, to make it easy to use.

In addition, Total.js also comes with NoSQL embedded in it and supports the array and many other prototypes.

2 – Express.js

Of all Node.js frameworks, Express.js is believed to be the simplest one and also the most commonly used by Node.js developers these days.

In Express.js, developers are not required to add all of its structure in order to build Node.js application.

So, if you’re developing a simple Node.js application in which you will not always require extra templating features, you can use Express.js.

It’s a minimalistic framework that promotes stability and consistency.

3 – Socket.io

Socket.io is a fast and reliable Node.js framework designed for building real-time applications.

It comes with a simple yet convenient API that works on every device, browser, platform and also supports disconnection detection, multiplexing, auto-reconnection, rooms, and binary.

Simply put, it’s a JavaScript framework that provides bidirectional data flow between the server and the web client.

4 – Meteor.js

Forth on the list, Meteor.js is actually a full-stack JavaScript platform designed to help build modern web and mobile apps.

While the main benefit of using Meteor.js is its realtime update, but the most fascinating thing of this Node.js framework is its insanely rich & organized documentation and also its large community that helps newcomers learn fast.

However, there’s no better way to describe how awesome this framework is than mentioning its capability of serving one of the biggest projects like reaction commerce, which is amongst the most popular and largest e-commerce open-source projects.

5 – MEAN.io

MEAN, as you might have already heard, is a collection of open source technologies including MongoDB, Ember.js, Angular, and Node.js, which offers an end-to-end framework architecture for building dynamic web applications.

Simply put, it is another Node.js framework built on Express.js and is an ideal choice when you want to develop cloud-native full-stack JavaScript web apps.

6 – Loopback.io

Loopback is one of the highly-extensible Node.js frameworks popular for creating dynamic end-to-end REST APIs without having to write much code.

It was created to help JavaScript developers easily set up models as well as write REST APIs in a matter of a couple of minutes.

In addition, Loopback comes with model relation support, various ad-hoc queries, backend data stores, and add-on components with support for easy authentication and authorization setup.

7 – Keystone.js

Keystone.js is yet another lightweight, extensible, and open-source Node.js framework that is built on MongoDB and Express.js.

The main aim of Keystone.js is to help Node.js developers build database-driven APIs, applications, and websites.

In laymen’s terms, Keystone.js makes everything simple by allowing to choose and use only the needed features and dumping the ones that are not required.

In addition, Keystone supports form processing, session management, dynamic routes, and database building blocks along with a truly beautiful, customization User Interface, which makes Keystone.js a product JavaScript framework.

8 – Hapi.js

Hapi.js is one of the few yet popular Node.js frameworks that uses MVC architecture. Hapi was basically designed to help JavaScript developers write reusable components and app logic.

It is configuration-centric and offers various useful features such as caching, input validation, and authentication along with many others.

9 – Koa.js

Koa is a new Node.js framework built by the same developers who created Express.js.

Koa.js uses ES2017 async functions and was created to be a smaller, more robust, and more expressive Node.js framework for building web apps and APIs.

According to its official website, Koa does not bundle any middleware, which means the middlewares in Koa becomes more streamlined, making the framework to have more control over handling and configurations as a result.

The best part about Koa.js, however, is that it helps developers rid their apps of callback hell through promises and async functions with simplified error handling.

10 – Mocha.js

Mocha.js is one of the widely adopted Node.js frameworks that allows integrating only the good unit tests with your web application’s build routine for performing the tests.

Though it might seem like a bit of a chore, but oftentimes it helps to resolve issues faster while eliminating the regression of the codebase.

In simple terms, it is a JavaScript test framework that offers asynchronous testing, use of any assertion library, and test coverage reports for Node.js applications.

11 – Sails.js

Sails.js is yet another MVC-based Node.js framework that is also built on Express.js. Although, Sails’ MVC architecture resembles Ruby on Rails and it supports a more modern as well as data-driven style of API & Web app development.

In addition to this, Sails also provides support for easy WebSocket integration, auto-generated REST APIs, and is compatible with multiple front-end frameworks & platforms including React, Angular and Android, Windows, and iOS.

In a nutshell, Sails.js is an ideal choice if you’re developing real-time applications like a chat app.

Conclusion

There you have it! The best 11 Node.js frameworks to consider in your next web app development project.

Before you go, please note that all frameworks mentioned in this article were selected on the basis of its functionality and popularity. There are, however, a few other Node.js frameworks that are useful for building certain kinds of web applications.

So, if you’re developing a web app and sure as to which framework to use, we recommend that you hire node js developer to ensure you’ve made the right choice.

That being said, if you feel that we left out a Node.js framework that deserves a spot on this list, feel free to let me know in the comment section below.

10 Important Features to Consider while Developing an Educational App in 2023 (and Beyond)

Education system all around the world is facing a paradigm shift. Online classrooms are replacing traditional classrooms. Webinars are replacing seminars. Today, online learning is one of the fastest-growing businesses in the world. Mobile apps have been the primary driver in this revolutionary transformation. They have made the learning process not only more useful but also more fun.

Although there are tons of educational apps available on the play store and app store, none of them are similar. Every app has different features and capabilities. But, to make your education app successful, you need to consider a few mandatory features.

Critical features to consider while developing an educational app

#1 A powerful database with valid information

Education is all about making the information easier to consume for other people. To do that the first step would be to store the data. To hold information related to study materials, and guides, you need a reliable database. It should be able to hold a variety of information such as written content, audio, video, images, tables, and more.

A smoother database can ensure a smoother learning process since students will be able to access every information at their fingertips. The database should be so robust that it should be able to work even with slow internet speed.

#2 Resourceful and comprehensive content

Content is king. One of the primary reasons why people are heading towards online learning is because the content is much more valuable compared to classrooms. Valuable content is also the primary reason for you to increase the number of app downloads. Below are a few factors that you might consider while creating content.

  • Content has to be comprehensive and worth viewing, reading, or watching.
  • Before creating the content, you must define the target audience.
  • Content should be created in a simple and easy to understand language; keeping in mind all types of students with different grasping power and capacity.
  • Content should be responsive and mobile-friendly as it will be the primary medium for consumption.

#3 Interactive sessions and live tutorials

No matter how fantastic content you create in the form of videos or text, you must conduct live sessions at specified time intervals. Live sessions help you to connect with your target audience and know them better. It also allows you to communicate with your students face-to-face and identify their problems.

You can also provide a chat now section where students can post their queries and concerns. It can also help you to collect valuable feedback from the learners. This feedback will help you improve the in-app experience of learners.

#4 Mock tests and practice sessions

Practice makes a man perfect. Regardless of how fantastic content you create to simplify the learning process of students, if they don’t put that knowledge into practice, your efforts will go in vain. Mock tests and practice questions help students to increase their confidence.

You need to include mock tests and practice questions along with complete solutions in the app. It will help you increase your credibility and hence, profitability by keeping the extra practice questions paid.

#5 Track achievements and progress

Giving tests and practice questions is of no use if a student cannot track them and identify their weak areas or pain-points. Allowing students to track their progress will help them to get deeper insights about their achievements and failures. Whether a student is doing good or bad, progress tracking will help them to stay motivated to move further.

Keeping a diagnostic test at the beginning of the course is an excellent gesture to identify the current level of a student. Based on the test, you can customize the pace of the course. It will help students to learn at their speed and based on their grasping power.

#6 Seamless user interface

The user interface is one of the key points to note while developing an educational app. Since, the market is competitive, providing a user-friendly interface will give you an edge.

To create a seamless user interface, you need to choose the right color combinations. Moreover, you need to select the right media player to play all the audio and visual content. A slow or buggy media player can ruin the entire user experience.

#7 Personalization

As discussed above, every student is different, and so is their learning speed. You can keep 80-90% of the syllabus similar for every student. But, the remaining 10-20% should be personalized according to the requirements of every student.

You can also conduct a one-to-one meeting with a student if he or she is not performing well. It will help you to exemplify the exact pain areas of a student and serve them accordingly by providing them extra material or practice questions, or guidance in any form.

#8 Multi-language support

While developing an educational app, you must identify the primary and secondary languages your target audience speak. You then need to translate the app into those languages so that you don’t miss any of your target customers.

#9 Use of social networking platforms

Nowadays, to increase customer retention, it is crucial that you stay in touch with your customers all the time. Since everyone today is on either of the social media platforms, you must establish and maintain a strong presence on all of them. Social media platforms are a great way to expand your business for you can find more students on them.

#10 Push notifications

Push notifications are a great way to engage with users. It also helps you to interact with users. Moreover, it is a great advertisement tool, which allows you to share your new offerings and discounts on your courses.

Students should be able to customize push notifications according to their requirements such as notifying them for upcoming webinars, exams, reminding them to revise the syllabus and more.

Final Thoughts

The features mentioned above are only the basic and most important ones. These are the must-have features for your app. If you’re looking forward to developing an education app that is one of a kind, then you need to be aware of the latest tech advancements and provide creative learning methods to users.

7 Reasons Why Vue.js is The Trendiest JavaScript Frontend Framework

Since the last 2 decades, JavaScript has facilitated web developers to design responsive web interfaces for clients and consumers.

JavaScript brought dynamicity to websites through a number of frameworks and helped developers in extending functionalities and enhancing the user experience of websites.

Of all JavaScript frameworks, however, Vue.js is the trendiest JavaScript frontend framework with highest stars on GitHub (144K), beating Angular (49.9K) and React (3.7K) in Github Star Count.

Vue.js was created by Evan You, an ex-employee of Google. Vue was started as a small project with just one aim. – Extract good parts of Angular and build a framework that’s really lightweight.

Unlike other popular JavaScript frameworks, Vue.js is not backed by a huge tech company. – While Angular has Google’s backing and React was built by Facebook.

Vue.js, on the other hand, was created and is maintained by its community only.

And today, Vue has matured considerably and become a full-fledged JavaScript framework with its own grownup ecosystem and developer tools.

Though React and Angular are still kings when it comes to popularity and commercial usage. But Vue.js is also stepping into developers’ reality progressively.

In fact, according to The State of JavaScript Survey, the number of JavaScript developers who have used Vue and would love to use it again has grown considerably from 19.6% in 2017 to 28.8% in 2018.

On top of that, Vue.js is also the number one JavaScript framework with the highest satisfaction rating among developers worldwide.

Reasons-Why-Vue-js-Is-Getting-More-Traction-Every-Month-2019-07-29-15-07-53

In addition to this, there are many other reasons why Vue.js is growing. In this blog, we’ve mentioned the,

Top 7 reasons why Vue.js is the trendiest JavaScript frontend framework:

Reason #1 – Flexible & Modular Development Environment

Vue.js uses components in web development. And component-based architecture is highly recommended for the goal of future scaling. Components provide lots of adaptability and flexibility to meet the project’s requirements.

Vue’s components are loosely coupled, which drastically decreases the development time, while improving the code reusability.
When building a large-scale application, however, Vue requires using a modularized build system But, Vue.js also provides sufficient flexibility by giving the ability to transform the source code into preprocessors through the Webpack & Browserfy bundlers recommended by Vue.

Reason #2 – Versatility & Huge Ecosystem

Vue has a huge collection of tools and libraries that facilitate web development. Among these tools and libraries, the most notable ones are vue-routing for routing and mapping and Vuex for state management.

In addition to the above, Vue also has its own Development Tools that come as browser extensions.

These development tools basically simplify the app debugging process by allowing you to live-edit your web application, time-travel debug back to previous working versions, and track custom events.

Reason #3 – High Performance

Though Vue is not the fastest JavaScript frontend framework, but it is considerably fast.

In mobile apps, for example, Vue launches an application faster than React and Angular both. Vue’s speed is an important factor to consider while choosing a frontend framework since 53% of worldwide users abandon a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.

Reason #4 – Vibrant Community

Vue’s community is booming and frontend developers from all around the world are constantly contributing to the further development of the Vue.js framework.

In fact, Vue’s popularity has reached a point where several huge conferences take place around the globe, which are solely focused on Vue.

Here are some of the upcoming Vue.js conferences that have already been organized.

Apart from huge conferences, there are also Vue Meetups organized on a regular basis in multiple countries. But if you’re around near any of these conferences, they’re definitely worth attending.

Reason #5 – Easier Learning Curve

One of the reasons behind Vue’s popularity is its easy learning curve that has been a blessing for all beginners and expert developers.

In fact, according to State of Vue.js 2019 report, the majority of developers admitted that the easy learning curve of Vue is what got them interested to test the framework in their applications.

If you’re a beginner, for example, you can just refer the materials given in Vue’s official guide and easily create a simple Vue.js Application, without needing the basic knowledge of build systems, JSX, ES2015, or even TypeScript.

To build a basic Vue.js app, all you need is a basic understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Reason #6 – HTML Templates

Vue.js provides HTML-based templates that greatly improve the developers’ productivity, especially for those with an HTML experience.

Apart from this, Vue’s HTML templates can also help in launching reactivity features in existing web applications.

Furthermore, the HTML templates compiled by the Vue.js will have the virtual DOM render functionality, which during the state change, will provide only a minimum number of manipulations to the DOM.

Reason #7 – Popular & Preferred By Industry Giants

Thanks to all the advantages mentioned above, Vue has not just gained popularity among developers worldwide, but also the industry giants.

Some of these companies using Vue.js include:

  • Facebook
  • Netflix
  • Adobe
  • Alibaba
  • Grammarly
  • GitLab
  • Behance

While we’re talking about Vue’s adoption, it’s also worth mentioning that while it’s easier to find React and Angular.js developers, but Vue’s learning curve is so easy that your existing team of developers can easily get familiar with the framework.

Hence, you would not require hiring Vue Developers separately, which will save you thousands of dollars in cost.

Conclusion

While Vue.js may not be the most popular JavaScript frontend framework yet, but it is definitely worth considering in your next project.

Although, if you’re developing a large-scale application and investing thousands of dollars, the reliance on a professional web development services company is recommended.

Node JS Use Cases: When Is It Worth Considering for Web App Development?

If you’re wondering what’s with all the hype around Node JS, you’re not alone.

Since it’s emergence, Node JS has taken the web development world by storm.

In fact, many big companies like LinkedIn, Uber, Airbnb, and even NASA have adopted the technology in their products.

Why?

Because the benefits of NodeJS are unmatched.

In this article, I’m going to share everything about NodeJS, from what it is, to how it is different from other JavaScript frameworks and best Node JS use cases.

Let’s dive right in!

What is NodeJS?

The first thing you should know about NodeJS is that it’s not a JavaScript framework.

NodeJS is a server-side runtime environment that is built upon event-driven programming language that enables non-blocking I/O capabilities.

Thanks to this unique I/O model, building I/O-heavy and data-heavy web applications becomes very fast and easy using NodeJS.

Apart from this, the ability of NodeJS to use JavaScript on both front-end as well as back-end has also opened up many new avenues in web application development.

How Is It Different From Other JavaScript Frameworks?

Though there is no difference between NodeJS and other JavaScript frameworks in terms of the programming language used, what makes NodeJS different from the rest of the JavaScript frameworks is its different sets of APIs.

For example, unlike other JavaScript frameworks, NodeJS provides many APIs for backend development such as HTTP requests, streams, support for file systems, and child processes to name just a few.

Furthermore, since NodeJS uses JavaScript on both front-end as well as the back-end, it significantly increases the development speed.

Simply put, NodeJS development allows businesses and companies to save more as NodeJS holds the capability to handle the same amount of load with less horsepower.

Node JS Use Cases: When Is It Worth Using?

NodeJS, as mentioned before, gives a great boost to the productivity of your team since it uses the same programming language on front-end and back-end.

As a result, the development process becomes much faster, efficient, and cross-functional, which ultimately leads to lower development costs.

However, it’s also worth mentioning that NodeJS works best for only a certain kind of web applications.

Let’s discuss in detail different Node JS use cases to understand when is it worth considering for web application development.

1 – When You’re Building Streaming Web Apps

Thanks to the Native Stream API, NodeJS is an excellent choice for developing streaming web apps.

In addition, NodeJS also has a built-in interface of writable and readable streams that can be easily and efficiently processed and monitored.

These stream instances are nothing but Unix pipes which makes it possible to transmit parts of the application’s executable code to the local system while also keeping a steady connection for new components to download as and when needed.

As a result, streams in NodeJS don’t require caching and storing temporary data because it gives an open connection to the stream app’s data from the server to the local system.

In layman’s terms, the Native Stream API of NodeJS allows downloading only certain parts of the web application initially and the remaining parts are downloaded in the background when needed.

2 – When You’re Building Real-time Collaboration Tools

Real-time collaboration tools are basically Software solutions widely used for project management, co-browsing, audio and video conferencing, collaborative documents editing, and much more.

In these software solutions, lots of I/O requests and events occur concurrently. For example, in a project management solution, multiple users can write comments, update status, and attach media to a specific project.

Now, since NodeJS can handle heavy I/O operations efficiently due to its WebSockets and Event API, NodeJS has become a favorite choice among developers for building such real-time collaboration solutions.

Trello, for example, adopted NodeJS for its event-driven and non-blocking architecture to instantly update their collaborative environment.

3 – When You’re Building Complex, Single-Page Applications

Single-Page applications have become a common approach nowadays.

In SPAs, the entire application is basically fit on a single page to provide a desktop app like experience.

NodeJS is a perfect fit for building SPAs because it can efficiently handle the asynchronous calls and heavy I/O operations.

In addition, NodeJS also works well with data-driven single page applications in which the server acts as the backend to transmit data to the client, while the client-side does all the HTML rendering.

Lastly, Since NodeJS and browsers use the same language (JavaScript), the amount of time for context switching gets drastically reduced and developers can also use the same language structures and approaches in both back-end and front-end.

This ultimately results in better maintainability and faster development time of your single-page application.

4 – When You’re Building Real-Time Chat Applications

As you might already know, real-time chats are widely used on pretty much everywhere on the web these days. In fact, they’ve kind of become a necessity, especially for commercial sites and digital products.

The good news is, NodeJS has all the basic functionalities for building real-time chat apps. Node’s Event API makes it possible for developers to implement server-side events and push notifications, which are widely used in most real-time chats.

In addition, the WebSockets in NodeJS also facilitates a two-way exchange via an open connection, which is ideal for real-time chat apps development.

For example, you can install WebSockets libraries like sockets.io or WebSocket-node to easily deploy real-time chat functionality.

In sockets.io specifically, all you need to do is install the library on both client and server-side and create broadcasters and event emitters to push messages. The best part is, this entire setup can be done with just a few lines of code.

5 – When You’re Building Microservices Architecture

Microservices Architecture is basically an approach to develop a web application as a group of small, independent services in which each service plays a unique role in the business logic.

In recent years, microservices architecture has become extremely popular, especially after the emergence of Amazon, Facebook, and Netflix.

In this type of web application, microservices usually communicate through REST/HTTP protocol with JSON data structure.

NodeJS is the perfect technology to build such microservices architecture because NodeJS makes it easy to mount various instances of server for individual microservices and design appropriate routing addresses for them.

Additionally, the lightweight nature of NodeJS can significantly enhance the scalability, maintainability, and efficiency of a web application.

These benefits were first leveraged by PayPal in 2013. PayPal used NodeJS to modularize its app stack and split the development process into numerous microservices.

The result of NodeJS adoption helped the company to improve performance and reduce their codebase significantly.

Conclusion

NodeJS has become the number one choice among developers as well as companies for building modern web applications.

However, you should not use NodeJS if you’re developing a CPU-intensive web application as it may cause unresponsiveness due to its single-threaded nature.

On the other hand, NodeJS is the best choice if your web app involves dealing with heavy client-side rendering, frequent shuffling of data, multiple concurrent requests, and things alike.

That being said, if you’re planning to use NodeJS in your web application, hire Node JS Developer from Credencys to fully-utilize the capabilities of Node JS.

5 Finance App Development Challenges & How to Conquer Them

With over 5 billion smartphone users worldwide and 63% of them using at least one finance app on their smartphones, it is perhaps no wonder why so many businesses, brands, and companies are focusing on building finance apps.

While convenient access to finance is the key to success in the finance industry, there are however certain challenges that one needs to overcome on the path of successful finance app development.

For example, fintech startups must make their digital channels tight so that customers’ data are passed in the most secure way.

Another challenge comes with customer experience. Today, financial customers expect a certain level of care and if it’s compromised, the probability of earning them back in the future is significantly low.

These are just the highlights of some of the challenges that companies face when building a finance app. In this blog, we’ve listed the top finance app development challenges and how to overcome them.

That being said, let’s dive right in!

Top Finance App Development Challenges

1 – Data Security Issue

The issue of data security has become more prevalent in the last recent months. In fact, if there was a right time to protect customers’ data, it’s right now and within the finance industry.

Finance is one of the most sensitive areas for every person. So, it’s imperative that the finance app you develop protects your customers’ data as much as possible.

The best way to accomplish this is with facial and/or fingerprint authentication. These two under-appreciated features are the most-expected features in all finance apps.

Moreover, as the data security concerns evolve and continue to make headlines, it is crucial to continue innovating finance app security.

2 – Regulatory Issue

Of all the industries in the world, the financial services industry is one of the most regulated industries. This is why it’s necessary to ensure that every aspect of your finance app confirms all applicable regulatory environment.

For example, if your finance app is for customers in the Europe continent, it is compulsory for you to meet all the necessities of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The GDPR policy basically advocates that mobile app owners can’t take the private information of their users on their will without getting their assent first.

3 – Customer Experience Issue

Mobile apps are not just about solving users’ problems. – it’s also about creating an experience so that users would want to use a mobile app as a part of their everyday lives.

Finance apps, as you might have anticipated, are no different. Therefore, you need to make sure that your users are not required to walk through a complex series of steps in order to complete a transaction.

In laymen’s terms, a user should not face any difficulty while using your finance app, even if he or she is carrying out a complex transaction. This is why you must take the customer experience of your finance app very seriously and make sure that your app is customer-centric and user-friendly.

4 – Customer Retention Issue

Customer experience of a mobile app is indeed an important aspect, but the true test of any mobile app’s success relies on how many users become engaged.

This is where customer retention comes into the picture.

According to a report, a mobile app losses nearly 90% of its active users 30 days after the app is installed.

On the other hand, the same report also revealed that a 5% increase in customer retention increases the profits between 25 to 95%.

So now that you have an idea of how important customer retention is, you need to focus on building trust with your customers by letting them know that you care about them. One way to accomplish this is through push notifications.

Although, you need to be careful with using push notifications as you don’t want to lead your customers to opt-out or worse uninstall your mobile app just to escape the annoying push notifications.

5 – Compatability Issue

One of the repetitive challenges that arise in almost every finance app development process is the compatibility issue. It means making sure that the finance app works across a huge range of devices.

If you’re developing a finance app, for example, then you need to ensure that every new update is backward compatible, meaning every new version of your finance app must work with the previous versions of smartphone operating systems both iOS and Android.

Conclusion

Finance apps are, of course, the need of the hour. They provide a wide spectrum of features, allowing customers to conduct all sorts of banking transactions. Though there are certain challenges that must be considered and taken care of, but if use the above-mentioned practices, you can easily make your finance app success in the industry.

7 Tips For Developing Better Node.js Apps in 2023 & Beyond

JavaScript, today, is the most preferred language to build web apps. And web applications that are built using JavaScript are often accompanied by Node.js.

Node.js was first introduced in 2009 by Ryan Dahl. it is a JavaScript runtime environment that is mostly used for the backend development of a web application.

Since its inception, Node.js has gained massive popularity worldwide and it is currently being used by many tech giants such as LinkedIn, Netflix, Paypal, Uber, and others.

But, what’s so special about Node.js that has led the world’s most popular companies to adopt it?

Answer: Asynchronous I/O.

The main unique value proposition of Node.js is that it allows a server to continually process other requests without urging the users to wait until the current process is processed.

However, Node.js is not only used for backend development alone. There are a few other use cases for which organizations have adopted the Node.js technology.

In fact, you’ll be surprised to know that the majority of times Node.js is used for full stack development.

primary data focus

Source: Nodejs.org

In this article, we’re going to share 7 tips that will help you build better Node.js applications. You can use these tips to either improve your existing node.js app or to build a new node.js app from ground zero.

Tip #1 – Group “Require” Statements at Beginning

If your Node.js app is facing performance issues, then using this tip is highly recommended.

“Require” is synchronous that halts the execution of code. Therefore, it’s best to group all of “Require” statements at the beginning of the code to avoid performance downgrading.

Best yet, you can utilize the Node’s in-built ‘module loading system’ for loading your modules that exist in other separate files.

Tip #2 – Use async-await

The support for Asynchronous in Node.js arrived late (with Node.js 8 release), while other languages like C#, Go, and Kotlin supported async since way back.

If you don’t know what synchronous and asynchronous means, then here’s the simple explanation:

In synchronous, the resources get blocked until a request is being processed, while in asynchronous, the resources don’t get blocked and I/O operations are processed parallely.

Now if your node.js application involves multiple operations and you’re using synchronous, then the performance of the will get highly-hampered.

With async-await, however, you can execute multiple I/O operations at once and the performance of your node.js app won’t get affected.

Tip #3 – Listen to Error Events

Leaving bugs even when you’ve identified them can come back later to create ugly scenarios in the future. And in Node.js, error handling is quite easy and can be done without much fuss.

Therefore, make it a habit to start listening to error events on a regular basis. Error events will help to spot errors early in the development process so that you can steer clear of total chaos in the future.

Tip #4 – Embrace Microservices

If you’re developing a large-scale application or just facing deployment issues, it’s time to embrace microservices.

Microservices are basically a self-functional system that along with other microservices form a large system. Each of these self-functional systems is a scalable, fully-functional, and deployable system.

In simple words, microservices are the big rock (the web app) that are made of small blocks (microservices) with each service being an independent unit. That means if one microservice fails, it won’t take much time to replace it. And as a result, they help to save costs and reduce the risk of development involved in developing a node.js application.

To embrace microservices, you can any of the following two technologies:

Kubernetes:

Kubernetes is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.

Docker:

Docker is a software technology providing containers, which wrap up a piece of software in a complete filesystem that contains everything it needs to run: code, runtime, system tools, and system libraries.

Tip #5 – Modularize Your Code

If you have the habit of writing large chunks of code, then it would be really difficult for you to get most out of asynchronous I/O.

So, it’s better to write or organize your existing code into smaller chunks that improve the readability of the code. Writing code in small chunks will help you in the long run whether or not you’re developing a complex node.js application.

Tip #6 – Use Prettier to Avoid Code Style Controversies

When Prettier was released in 2017, it became an instant hit. Prettier is basically an opinionated code formatter that enforces a consistent code style, instead of showing simple code style warnings.

In simple words, Prettier removes all original styling done by you and reprints it from scratch into a consistent style.

Take the following code for example:

foo(reallyLongArg(), omgSoManyParameters(), IShouldRefactorThis(), isThereSeriouslyAnotherOne());

The above formatting might look fine, but once your application starts to grow, you might run into a situation where the function starts to break down because it’s too long.

Prettier, on the other hand, can eliminate this risk by reprinting it for you like below:

foo(
reallyLongArg(),
omgSoManyParameters(),
IShouldRefactorThis(),
isThereSeriouslyAnotherOne()
);

Tip #7 – Security Above Everything!

Security is something that should never be ignored or compromised, especially on the internet.

This is why ensuring that your node.js application is entirely secure is no longer an option but a necessity. And even if you think that your application is already secure, it wouldn’t hurt to double-check using Snyk and Node Security Platform.

These two platforms will help you find any sneaky vulnerabilities that your node.js might have.

Conclusion

Node.js has proven itself as one of the best tools for solving various problems and this is why so many tech giants prefer it over other tools these days.

Though it’s difficult to adopt it in both existing as well as for developing a new web application, but if you hire node js developer, you can easily leap over all of its difficulties and build a better web app than your competitors.

Netflix to NASA – 5 Famous Companies That Use Node.js

Since its inception in 2009, Node.js has gained immense popularity in the JavaScript market. And Netflix & NASA are just a few organizations using Node.js in their products.

To cut the long story short, Node.js is an open-source, light, and scalable JavaScript environment that allows writing server-side scripts.

Though Node.js is mainly used for developing real-time, data-intensive web applications, but mobile app development is also possible, all thanks to the node’s rich ecosystem.

In this blog, we’ve gathered information about the top 5 famous companies that are currently using Node.js in their software products.

5 Famous Organizations Using Node.js

#1 – Netflix

Netflix

Netflix is, without any doubt, the biggest video streaming service company worldwide. As of January 2019, Netflix has 139 million paying subscribers and is quickly approaching 150 million, according to CNN.

Currently, Netflix’s user interface is built using node.js. And the technology has proved itself so beneficial and effective that the company has already planned to use it for building other layers of their tech stack.

So, why Netflix choose to use Node.js?

The Netflix team decided to embrace Node.js in their software product to make the application modular, lightweight, and fast. As a result, the application’s startup time is now reduced by 70%.

Kristofer Baxter, Former Senior Manager of User Interface Engineering Department of Netflix, himself shared these findings on Netflix’s blog on August 5th, 2015.

#2 – eBay

Ebay

eBay is an ecommerce company that offers business-to-consumer and consumer-to-consumer internet sales services.

For buyers, the service is completely free to use. Sellers, on the other hand, need to pay fees for listing and selling items.

eBay currently operates in around 37 countries and according to Statista, eBay currently has 179 million active users across the world.

So, why eBay choose to use Node.js?

According to Principal Web Engineer of eBay, Senthil Padmanabhan, eBay adopted Node.js for two main reasons:

First, they wanted to make their product as real-time as possible such as maintaining live connections with the server.
And secondly, they also wanted to orchestrate a lot of eBay-specific services to handle I/O bound operations in a better way.

As a result, eBay is now experiencing many benefits including better speed, performance, transparency, scalability, and control over their product.

#3 – Paypal

Paypal

Paypal is the largest Internet payment platform that offers services like online money transfer and acts as an electronic alternative to traditional payment methods like money orders & checks.

The company, as of today, supports over 24 currencies and has 277 million active users according to Statista.

So, why Paypal choose to use Node.js?

Paypal adopted Node.js for building the consumer-side of their web application. Jeff Harrel, Vice President of Checkout and Identity Department at Paypal said that Node.js helped them unify their developers into a team and helped to write both the server and the browser applications write in JavaScript.

As a result, their new Paypal app was built 2x faster with less number of people, with 40% fewer files and 33% of less code compared to their previous Java-based application.

#4 – LinkedIn

LinkedIn

Launched in 2002, LinkedIn is a professional social network platform where employers connect with job seekers around the globe.

LinkedIn supports 24 languages and has over 303 million active monthly users and a total of 610 million members.

So, why LinkedIn choose to use Node.js?

LinkedIn adopted Node.js technology for empowering the server-side of their mobile applications.

As a result, LinkedIn’s new node-based app is 20x faster and their number of servers are also reduced from 30 to 3, compared to its previous Ruby on Rails version.

#5 – NASA

NASA

NASA, as you might already know, is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration agency of the US.

Node.js proved to be the most advantageous for NASA and helped the organization keep astronauts safer during their space expeditions.

The above statement may seem bold but that doesn’t change the fact.

So, why NASA choose to use Node.js?

NASA adopted Node.js technology after an unfortunate incident occurred in space. Simply put, NASA realized that their data was scattered on multiple locations and because of this one of their astronauts nearly lost his life.

So, NASA finally decided to move everything in the cloud and also developed their own end-to-end data system to prevent such incidents occurring in the future.

As a result, NASA now has 1 database for everything and their Data Access Time is also reduced by 300 percent!

Bottom Line? – Node.js is the Way Foward!

Node.js offers the greatest benefits and has now become the most preferred technology not just among developers but also among giant companies. Apart from the companies mentioned above, Google, Yahoo, and Github has also embraced Node.js into their production and are now experiencing the following innumerable advantages.

  • Rise in productivity
  • Fast processing
  • High scalability
  • Solid community support
  • And a lot more.

If you too wish to experience these advantages, Hire node js developer today!