What is node js actually in short?
node js or node is an open-source and cross-platform runtime environment for executing JavaScript code outside of a browser quite often we use no to build back-end services also called APIs or application programming interfaces these are the services that power our client applications like a web app running inside of a web browser or mobile app running on a mobile device these clients apps are simply what the user sees and interacts with they're just the surface they need to talk to some services sitting on the server or in the cloud to store data send emails or push notifications kick off workflows and so on node is ideal for building highly scalable data-intensive and real-time back-end services that power our client applications now you might ask but mosh there are other tools and frameworks out Therefore building back-end services such as a speed a ruby on rails, Django and so on so what's so special about no well node is easy to get started and can be used for prototyping and agile development but it can also be used for building super fast and highly scalable services it's used in production by large companies such as PayPal uber Netflix Walmart and so on in fact, PayPal rebuilt one of their Java and spring-based applications using node and it found that the node application was built twice as fast with fewer people in 33% fewer lines of code and 40% fewer files and more importantly they double the number of requests served per second while decreasing the average response time by 35% so node is an excellent choice for building highly scalable services another reason for using node is that in node applications, we use JavaScript.