Doesn’t the idea of having an application sound fascinating?
It certainly is!
The trend of application development has taken over the world, such that almost every startup or enterprise is striving to have one!
And then, as the era we live in has become more digitized by the passing time, application development is not just a desire anymore; it has turned into a need as well.
Developing user-friendly and interactive real-time apps, be it a mobile app, desktop app, or a web app, incorporating that ‘real-time’ factor is essential.
But how can you effectively develop a real-time application?
The answer is with NodeJS.
NodeJS is highly recommended to develop a cutting edge real-time application for multiple purposes. The level of its competence has made it a well-loved and preferred choice worldwide. You can hire NodeJS developers to get your concept and idea developed into a real-time application!
But, this is not just it. There’s a lot more to the use of NodeJS for the development of a real-time application. And that’s exactly what we will be discussing in this article as you move ahead.
So, without waiting further, let’s dive into this exciting topic by hitting off the basics first!
What is a Real-Time App?
A real-time application is an application functioning in a frame of time that is immediate or current in the user’s opinion. The list of some popular categories of real-time applications includes VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), eCommerce platforms, IM (Instant Messaging), chatting, video conferencing, online gaming, etc.
The real-time apps share a long list of uses and purposes. Here are a few primary and worth praising ones:
Notification Delivery: Grabbing the users’ attention and improving their involvement with the app, both the tasks can be done very well with real-time notifications. That’s why they have become a non-negotiable part of every modern application in today’s time.
Real-Time Messaging: Real-time messaging is simply a blessing that makes communication so much easier. While various communication apps such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, etc. are seeking most out of it, it has become a part of other niches such as delivery apps, taxi booking apps, etc. as well.
Tracking Feature: The introduction of food delivery apps like Zomato or the taxi booking apps like Uber brought the feature of tracking the progress of a particular delivery or a ride. This real-time tracking facility has not just resulted in usability but also reliability and, to some extent, growing loyalty.
Live Streaming: Nothing can be better than live streaming in today’s time. Real-time live streaming has gained good momentum by allowing the users to share a moment at the exact moment when they are living it. Live streaming is immensely popular and used over social media platforms.
Facebook and Instagram are two great examples of real-time live video streaming.
Internet of Things: IoT (Internet of Things) devices experience a considerable demand for real-time features. The data that gets secured by the sensors in IoT devices is transmitted, processed, and showcased at earliest to the end-users. And since all this secured data tends to transform with passing time, the apps meant for IoT devices must be able to perform in real-time.
What is NodeJS and How Does it Assist With Real-Time App Development?
NodeJS is a JavaScript runtime environment, which made its debut in the year of 2009. Since then, it has gained much fame and has become one of the most favorite choices of the developers in different parts of the world.
For your needs concerning rapid and productive development, NodeJS is the ideal option. The best part about NodeJS is the support for NPM (Node Package Manager), which in turn has multiple modules to make app development using Node.js simpler and easier.
Now speaking of a real-time app, they work effectively on the grounds of speed and scalability. And this can be handled well by making use of NodeJS with its event-driven features.
For real-time apps, data-intensive apps, applications such as forums, social media, IoT devices, and more, NodeJS is a comprehensive technology.
NodeJS Benefits for Real-Time Application Development
The list of NodeJS advantages is enormous. However, we are shedding some light on the few major ones here that make the real-time app development a fun process:
Server Based on Event: A real-time app at a time encounters multiple real-time users. The use of NodeJS, in this case, supports the response to be made. This is because of the event-driven server that helps in non-blocking functioning.
Scalability: Node is based on JavaScript. This lets it pull the application faster. Thus, client requests can easily be dealt with by the app having a single-threaded model and the event loop.
Sharing and Reusing: NodeJS supports microservices architecture, which enables you to use the library code package again and share it. It also promotes more productivity and time-saving.
SEO Friendly: SEO is a need and a step ahead for your business. With such high stakes of the competition, you can not afford to miss out on it.
And to help that, you need to make NodeJS a part of your tech stack. You can hire a Full-Stack developer who can advise you about the right tech stack along with NodeJS. The back-end rendering by NodeJS helps in improving the site’s visibility and engagement. The incredible performance further leads to a noteworthy SEO ranking.
Proxy Server: For the need of intermediary admins, NodeJS proves to be a great option. Using the NodeJS server as a proxy server requires adding a 20-line code. Your app will then be able to assist with streaming data from different sources.
Community Support: A community of vibrant developers add more value to NodeJS. They are constantly making efforts to come up with tools along with shareable open-source modules.
Learning Curve: The learning curve of NodeJS is relatively smooth. If you are already familiar with the understanding and use of JavaScript, learning, and then working with NodeJS wouldn’t be a challenge for you. You can develop your real-time app in no time!
Tools for NodeJS Real-Time App Development:
The amalgamation of the right tools for development makes the process a lot simpler and easier. Here are the top 3 NodeJS tools you can use for real-time apps development.
Read More: Advantages and Disadvantages of NodeJS
Express.js
Express.js is a well-known web application framework for NodeJS. The comprehensive documentation of ExpressJS further helps in multiple ways.
Its key features include:
- A simple framework for web app development.
- Fast with achievable scalability.
- A vast array of HTTP methods, leading to quick API creation.
- Makes use of Node.js features in its’ foundation
- Quite a light layer for building web applications
Socket.IO
Socket.IO is a JavaScript library assisting in the development of real-time apps of high-end performance.
Some of its notable features are:
- Analytics modules that push data to clients for real-time graphical representation.
- Instant messaging and chat features can be coded.
- Easy implementation of binary streaming of audio, video, image, etc.
- Apps having concurrent editing facility of a document can also be developed.
Meteor
Meteor is an open-source platform for web, mobile, and desktop app development and enriches shipping the JavaScript applications with simplicity, scalability, and efficiency.
It provides multiple benefits, some of which are:
- Powerful integration with MongoDB.
- The union of working with JavaScript UI widget libraries turns out well.
- Reduces the coding effort, which manages to bring out the maximum productivity.
- Performs efficiently with other development tools.
- An easy to use platform allowing faster development of performant and scalable applications.
The Closing Thoughts
Developing a real-time app is as fun as significant it is!
And NodeJS here acts as the cherry on the top with its set of matchless features. For the programs with the need for non-blocking driven servers and an event-based server, NodeJS is immensely beneficial.
Its frameworks, too, have gone through required improvements for the betterment. They provide enough functionality, features, and flexibility for the generation and development of real-time applications.
In the end, the need is left for the right partner to take the development process of your concept and idea on board. Make sure to hire a professional, popular, and experienced company for a skilled and expert in his/her work NodeJS developer in order to achieve optimum efficiency in all the aspects of the development process to end up with a powerful real-time application.
