Node.js is an open-source server environment and runs cross-platform.
scripting where scripts are run server-side to create web content before
the page is sent to the user’s web browser. Node.js, therefore, is very
memory efficient because it eliminates the waiting in between requests
and runs single-threaded, non-blocking, asynchronously programming.
Ryan Dahl’s dissatisfaction with the Apache HTTP Server (the most popular server at the time) sparked his initial release of Node.js in 2009. Dahl aimed
to improve the handling of multiple concurrent connections and resolve
the sequential programming problem where code completely blocked the
process or implied multiple execution stacks like simultaneous
connections. The original release only supported two platforms, Linux
and Mac OS X but by 2011 Windows was also a supported platform as well
as several others.
The server follows an event driven architecture with an asynchronous
I/O design. This optimises throughput and scalability in web
applications that require multiple input/output operations. The program
can also be used for real-time web applications because of this design,
such as browser games. It can be compared to systems like Ruby’s Event
Machine or Python’s Twisted. The difference is that Node.js doesn’t have
a blocking call and presents an event loop as a runtime construct
instead of as a library. Node.js enters the event loop after executing
the input script and exits when all callbacks are completed.
Our development teams have used Node.js on a number of projects in the past and would be happy to discuss any potential projects you have in mind for the technology.