JavaScript vs Node.js

Difference Between JavaScript vs Node.js

Web development technology, javascript, is the primary interpreted programming language, which is high level, weakly typed, dynamic, prototype-based, and multi-paradigm. Javascript is also among the three core technologies of the world wide web, which enables interactive web pages. All major web browsers and websites have a dedicated JS engine to execute them. It supports an event-driven, imperative and functional programming style construct.

Node.js, on the other hand, is a cross-platform, open-source runtime environment that is helpful in executing javascript code on the server-side. If you talk about the earlier versions of Javascript, it was primarily a client-side scripting language where the code was embedded inside the web page’s HTML, and the engine was inside the browser. Now it is used as a server-side scripting language to produce dynamic web-based content before the web page is rendered onto the user’s web browser. It aims to unify the web application development experience, which revolves around a single programming language.

The javascript has the API, which is used for working with arrays, text, regular expressions, dates and basic level of DOM manipulation. The best feature which makes javascript a popular language is that it doesn’t include the I/O such as graphics facilities, networking, storage, etc. They all are dependent on the embedded host environment. Earlier javascript was only implemented as a client-side in web browsers; today, the engines are embedded in other types of host software, which essentially includes server-side scripting in web servers and databases. They are also embedded in non-web programs like PDF, word processors, and the runtime environment, which makes JS available for writing desktop and mobile applications along with desktop widgets.

.js in node.js is a conventional filename extension that is merely the name of the product. It has an event-driven architecture that has the feature of handling the I/O. The design choices are aimed to optimize the scalability, throughput and reduce latency as there becomes a rise in the usage of the input/output operations and real-time web-based applications such as browser-based games and real-time communication systems and programs.

There are strong similarities between JavaScript vs node.js, including parameters such as name, syntax, standard libraries, etc., but both JavaScript vs node.js vary greatly in implementation and design, and they are also influenced by programming languages such as Scheme and Self. Let us look at the difference between JavaScript and node.js in detail.

Head to Head Comparison Between JavaScript and Node.js (Infographics)

Below is the top 9 difference between JavaScript and Node.js:

Key Differences Between JavaScript and Node.js

Both JavaScript vs Node.js are popular choices in the market; let us discuss some of the major Difference Between JavaScript and Node.js:

1. Javascript is a cross-platform, open-source, lightweight, interpreted scripting programming language that is used majorly for client-side scripting. It is integrated into Java and HTML. Therefore, it is used to create network-centric applications, whereas Node.js is built on Google Chrome V8 engine and is a server-side scripting language. It is distributed in nature and used for data-intensive real-time applications.
2. A simple Javascript program is alert(“hey there!”);.This will be put inside the script tags on the HTML page and tells the web browser of the user to interpret it as the code for javascript such as script alert(“Hey there!”); which then makes a small alert box whereas in case of your node on your REPL, all you need to write is a node, and your interpreter is good to go. For example,
   > node
   > 1+5
   6
3. The upside of Javascript includes the main features such as a huge set of interfaces and interactivity along with just the right amount of server interaction and provides immediate feedback to visitors, whereas the node.js has more than 550 modules in its node package manager along with the provision of concurrent request handling. It also has a unique feature of supporting the microservice architecture along with the support for IoT.

JavaScript and Node.js Comparison Table

Below is the topmost comparison between JavaScript and Node.js.

The Basis for comparison BetweenJavaScript vs Node.js	Javascript	Node.js
Definition	Javascript is an open-source, cross-platform, interpreted, lightweight scripting programming language.	It is a server-side platform that is built on Chrome’s JS engine (V8 Engine)
Used for	It is designed to create network-centric applications as it is integrated with HTML and Java.	It is used for data-intensive real-time based applications which run across distributed devices.
Features	Universal support Dynamic Imperative and structured Object-oriented (Prototype-based) Delegative Functional Vendor-specific extensions	Asynchronous and Event-driven Very Fast Single-Threaded but Highly scalable License No Buffering
Community	All javascript projects are not necessarily of the node community	All node projects are of the Javascript community
Purpose	No processing strain on the server Less expensive with respect to server network traffic More responsive for the end-user Provides a better user experience More responsive web applications	I/O bound applications Data-intensive real-time applications (DIRT) Data streaming applications Single Page Applications JSON APIs based applications
Dedicated Server	Javascript doesn’t have a dedicated server	Node.js has a dedicated server to execute server-side requests
Companies using these Technologies	Thumbtack, LiveRamp, Google, Accenture, Microsoft, New Relic, Groupon, Uber, Shopify, Chegg, Yelp, Slack, Udacity, Hootsuite, Opendoor, Weebly, Birchbox, Fitbit, Segment, Sendgrid, Okta, instacart, Canon, etc.	Netflix, Linkedin, Walmart, Uber, Paypal, Trello, eBay, Medium, Groupon, NASA, DataEximIT, New York times, hapi, etc.
Advantages	Speed Simplicity Interoperability Popularity Server Load Extended functionality Versatility Quick updates Less server interaction Immediate feedback to visitors Increased interactivity Richer interfaces	Go with data streaming Fast suite Omnipresent Real-time web applications Solves all database queries Dynamic NPM Easy to code In charge of a proxy server Rise in productivity Hosting deal Good with synchronization issues Community Friendly
Limitations	The client-side doesn’t allow read or writes of file No support for networking applications No multithreading processing capabilities No multiprocessor capabilities Interpreted differently by different browsers	Bad concurrency primitives Single-threaded Unstable API More Development time Not suitable for heavy computation of apps Immaturity of tools and packages

Conclusion

JavaScript vs Node.js is way different from being compared. One is the basis of all the primary web development languages while the server-side scripting languages. Choosing the right set of technology depends on the work type your project requires and the resources support. I hope now you must have got a fairer idea of both JavaScript vs Node.js technologies. Stay tuned to our blog for more articles like these.

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