Chapter 9. Server-Side JavaScript

We have been focusing so far on the versatility of JavaScript as the language of the browser. It speaks volumes about the brilliance of the language given that JavaScript has gained significant popularity as a language to program scalable server systems. In this chapter, we will look at Node.js. Node.js is one of the most popular JavaScript frameworks used for server-side programming. Node.js is also one of the most watched project on GitHub and has superb community support.

Node uses V8, the virtual machine that powers Google Chrome, for server-side programming. V8 gives a huge performance benefit to Node because it directly compiles the JavaScript into native machine code over executing bytecode or using an interpreter as a middleware.

The versatility of V8 and JavaScript is a wonderful combination—the performance, reach, and overall popularity of JavaScript made Node an overnight success. In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

• An asynchronous evented-model in a browser and Node.js
• Callbacks
• Timers
• EventEmitters
• Modules and npm