Node.js development has quickly become one of the most popular practices in web application development over the past several years. As it continues to rise in popularity, more developers are being drawn to Node.js development than ever before. From small startups to large corporations, Node lovers can be found all over the place, and they’re all eager to share their best practices with fellow developers around the world!
Read Detailed Blog: Top 7 Node JS IDEs for App Development in 2022
What is Node.js?
Node.js is a JavaScript runtime built on Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine. Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight. And also it is efficient, and perfect for data-intensive real-time applications that run across distributed devices. Node.js applications are written in JavaScript and can be run within the Node.js runtime on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows without changes or recompilation. This gives you some of its awesome capabilities like cross-platform compatibility.
Node.js Practices for Effective Development
Every app is different, so there are no hard-and-fast rules for best practices. However, we’ve developed a set of general guidelines that help us get more done with less code. We strongly recommend following these guidelines in your own apps. They’ll help you avoid bugs and performance issues before they happen, and ensure that your app stays maintainable.
Start All Projects with npm init
A standard practice I use in all of my projects is to always start with npm init. This allows me to get all of my packages, dependencies, and features set up on every project that I start. Starting with npm init makes it easy to see which libraries you’re already using and not accidentally introduce a new dependency by mistyping something. (To learn more about how to use npm init, check out our documentation.) Always install Git: For most of my projects, I want to be able to deploy them as quickly as possible. That means getting up and running with Git.
Setup .npmrc
One of my favourite tricks is using .npmrc in every single project that I work on, as it allows me to do some nifty stuff. One of my favourite things to do is to save all of my packages into .npmrc and then use npm install in order to get all of them at once. without having to manually download them one by one with -S on a project-by-project basis.
Use Environment Variables
NPM, Gulp, and Grunt all have configuration files where environment variables can be set in a variety of ways. Use environment variables as much as possible to keep sensitive data out of source control and make life easier when it comes time to scale an application. For example, your web server will need to know which port number to listen on or what user name/password credentials are needed for connecting with a database backend.
Use a Style Guide
A good style guide will make it easier to maintain consistency throughout your codebase and, ultimately, make you more productive as a developer. Style guides usually include guidelines around naming conventions, formatting and structuring code, as well as rules regarding comments and documentation.
Say No to Synchronous Functions
There are many times that asynchronous functions will come in handy, and you should master their use as early as possible. The first step is to never write synchronous code again. There’s no reason to save a few seconds of execution time if you make your code more difficult to read and maintain by doing so. Say No to Synchronous Functions in nodejs because asynchronous functions are not good for scalability and performance
Handle Errors
While there are many best practices, not all of them apply to every situation. It’s important to consider each problem on a case-by-case basis. The make sure that your code has at least one error-handling strategy in place. Here are some guidelines on how to handle errors. As a general rule, you should have an error handler at every point where something could go wrong (even if you don’t think it will). If an exception occurs somewhere in your application, you should be able to trace back through previous layers and pinpoint where things went wrong. You can do this by writing your own custom exception classes or by leveraging built-in ones provided by TypeScript or ES6 and you can solve easy to errors.
Confirm your App Automatically Restarts
When your app encounters an error, you should not have to manually restart it to get back on track—the app should take care of that automatically. This is particularly important when developing a server application, as manually restarts are difficult to program
Can easily be forgotten in production-level environments. The best way to confirm automatic restarts is with a watchdog utility—also known as an error catcher or watchdog timer—which ensures applications automatically restart when errors occur.
Acquaint Yourself with JavaScript Best Practices
JavaScript is an extremely expressive language, but its flexibility can lead to messy, unmaintainable code. JavaScript best practices are basically rules and conventions meant to make your code more maintainable and efficient by following generally accepted conventions. It’s always a good idea to acquaint yourself with them before starting any new project. You’ll avoid some painful mistakes later on down the line if you do! Acquaint yourself with JavaScript best practices so that you can better make decisions when coding in this language.
Conclusion
The node community is relatively young, and as such you will encounter a lot of new developers who are still learning best practices. Take time to learn from them and be ready to share your own knowledge with others! As a node community grows, so does our experience in problem-solving, which is reflected in best practices for development. Always take it upon yourself to share your knowledge as well as learn from others!
At Hidden Brains UK, we provide Node.JS Development Services that provide cost-effective and dependable solutions to clients across industries like real estate development, property management software services, hospitality etc.
