Javascript vs Nodejs: what are the key difference between them?

By Haribabu | Posted on January 23, 2020

Both the JavaScript and Nodejs are generally classified as the “Languages” and “The Full-stack frameworks” tools respectively.

So it “Can be used on frontend/backend, It’s everywhere, Lots of great frameworks” are the key factors why developers consider JavaScript. Whereas “Node Package Manager(Npm)“, “Javascript” and “Great libraries” are the primary reasons why Nodejs is favored.

Before going deep into the topic, let’s have a quick overview of JavaScript and Nodejs:

What is Javascript?

JavaScript

JavaScript still remains as the most popular programming languages even after many years of its inception. It is an all-time favorite dynamic computer programming language for developers with object-oriented capabilities. It is lightweight and reliable that can be used as a part of web pages, which allows the client-side script to interact with the user and helps in making dynamic web pages. 

Till now web developers across the globe recommend JavaScript for web application development as it is the most famous language for web browsers. JavaScript and its related environments like Nodejs for web development have seen great growth in recent years.

Advantages of Javascript

Interoperability –  JavaScript plays fits easily with other programming languages and can be deployed in a variety of applications. 

Reliability – JavaScript can be fed into any web page irrespective of the file extension. Also, can be used in or between scripts written in other languages such as Perl and PHP.

Browser compatibility – Its ability to support all modern browsers and create the same result is the best advantage of JavaScript.

What is Nodejs?

Nodejs

Nodejs app development leads to faster and scalable web applications that also provide superb user experiences with desired features. A huge transition has taken place in the web application development model after Google released its V8 JavaScript engine.  Its different approach to web application development offers great functionality and reliability over other platforms. It a cross-platform, open-source runtime environment that enables the execution of JavaScript code on the server-side. 

Before the web page renders into the end user’s web browser, the server-side scripting language produces a dynamic web-based content. The main aim is to produce the overall web application development experience which revolves around a single programming language. Some tech giants like Groupon, Uber, Netflix prefer Nodejs for their web application development.

Read: List of famous web applications built with Nodejs

Advantages of Nodejs

The benefit of Full-stack – Nodejs is regarded as a full-stack JavaScript for serving both the client-side and the server-side applications.

Active community – The developers’ community of Nodejs is very dynamic and constantly contributes to the improvement of Nodejs in application development.

Server development – Some built-in APIs of Nodejs helps you to create different types of server like DNS Server and HTTP Server.

Most amateur developers find difficult to differentiate JavaScript and NodeJs. Here, we tried to list out some points that describe the differences between JavaScript and NodeJS.

Javascript vs Nodejs: The differences

PROGRAMMING NATURE

JavaScript is a simple programming language that has the ability to run on any of the browser’s JavaScript engines.

Nodejs is a Javascript runtime environment, which is based on Google’s V8 JavaScript environment for executing Javascript codes outside the browsers.

UTILITY

Considering the utility, JavaScript is mainly focused on client-side operations for a web application. It can be applicable invalidation, refreshing the page at specific time periods, incorporating dynamic changes on web pages without refreshing the page. 

Nodejs is used for executing the non-blocking operation of any operating system, which can include creating a shell script or getting access to specific details on hardware or even running a backend job.

SUPPORT

JavaScript running in any engine like Firefox, Safari, and Google Chrome. So, it is very easy to write and run on any environment for a proper browser. 

Nodejs only support the V8 engine developed by Google. Even it supports the V8 engine, but still written on JavaScript so it can run in any environment. There has no browser-specific constraint exists

OPERATING SYSTEM

JavaScript has predefined objects that are specific to every operating system. ActiveX is the best example that runs only on Windows. 

Nodejs simply executes operating system specific non-blocking tasks from any JavaScript programming. So there is no limitation in the operating system constant for Nodejs.

PURPOSE

The purpose of Javascript implementation is to provide more responsive user-end and web applications.

Whereas in Nodejs, it implemented to develop JSON APIs based applications.

Let’s wrap up

The above are the core reasons why Nodejs is better than JavaScript. Hence, the Nodejs wins the race with a huge margin.

There are still a lot more things to consider before selecting technology for developing the web application. Thus, Everything depends on your project and its requirement.

Planning to build a Nodejs web application development? If you have such requirements, Contact us for reliable and cost-effective builds.

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