3. Basic concepts of NodeJS

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Basics of NodeJS

NodeJS is a software development platform based on Google Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine. It allows developers to create fast and scalable network applications. This is a fundamental concept for creating APIs as it allows developers to create application programming interfaces that can handle large volumes of traffic and data.

What is NodeJS?

NodeJS is a platform built on Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine to easily build fast, scalable web applications. NodeJS uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model, which makes it lightweight and efficient, perfect for data-intensive real-time applications running across distributed devices.

NodeJS Features

There are several features that make NodeJS ideal for API development. Here are some of the most important ones:

Asynchronous and Event Driven

All NodeJS core APIs are asynchronous, ie non-blocking. Essentially, this means that a Node.js based server never waits for an API to return data. The server moves on to the next API after calling it, and a NodeJS notification mechanism helps the server get a response from the previous API.

Very fast

Since NodeJS is built on Google Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine, its code execution library is extremely fast.

Single Threaded but Highly Scalable

NodeJS uses a single thread model with an event loop. The server's event engine responds in a non-blocking manner and makes the server highly scalable unlike traditional servers that create limited threads to handle requests.

No Buffering

NodeJS applications never buffer any data. These applications simply output the data in chunks.

Installing NodeJS

Before you start developing your APIs, you will need to install NodeJS on your system. The installation process is quite simple and straightforward. Just follow the instructions provided on the official NodeJS website.

Basics of NodeJS

There are several basic concepts you need to understand before you start developing your APIs in NodeJS.

Modules

Modules are like JavaScript libraries that can be included in your project. They allow you to add additional functionality to your application without having to write all the code from scratch.

Callbacks

A callback is a function that is called when a specific task is completed. This allows you to have an asynchronous flow of control in your application.

Events

NodeJS is very event-driven. This means that you can emit and listen for events in your application. This is useful for handling many asynchronous operations.

Streams

Streams are collections of data, such as arrays or strings, that you can work with piece by piece, rather than having to deal with the entire dataset at once. This is useful for dealing with large volumes of data.

These are just some of the basic NodeJS concepts you need to understand before you start building your APIs. With a good understanding of these concepts, you'll be well equipped to start building robust and scalable APIs in NodeJS.

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43.1. NodeJS Basics: NodeJS Installation