A few days ago I watched this wonderful talk by Angelina Fabbro about going from a beginner to pro in JavaScript learning. One thing which stuck in my mind from this talk was, we should constantly ask the question “Why”
Why am I doing this? Why am I learning or using NodeJS and not another tool like PHP or Rails?
For the first time, I put my learning aside and got to think. Why I am using NodeJS?
For me, the first reason to learn NodeJS is that it lets me use JavaScript as my programming language. Looking back I remember, JS was the first language I learned. It’s the language of the web so it came to me naturally.
With the new updates of JavaScript, it’s getting better and better every year, like the arrow functions, or the class.
Every time I switch language, I get some trouble getting used to with the conventions and syntax of the other language. And the longer I spend time with a language, I start to forget the other one.
NodeJS and it’s ecosystem lets me stay with JS both on the front end and the back.
The second reason for using NodeJS to build applications, and not Ruby on Rails or PHP is, the single-page apps. I love that I can build an app-like website which will update on click, no more spinning bars.
Yes I have the option to use PHP and MySQL for the server-side and use JQuery to update the view. But the view tools like Angular and React are all well suited to run on a NodeJS environment.
I will have to use NodeJS and NPM to install and configure these tools anyways, so why not go for the full stack?
Another reason I want to throw in is the new and improved frameworks like React Native lets me build mobile applications. This is a huge plus now that what I build will also work as a mobile app. With the power of NodeJS, I can build web and mobile applications. This will help me build products in the future.
Final remarks: All these reasons I am throwing to myself why I am learning and using NodeJS as my platform. These are just my personal reasoning.
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