Book Image

Node.js Design Patterns

By : Mario Casciaro
Book Image

Node.js Design Patterns

By: Mario Casciaro

Overview of this book

Node.js is a massively popular software platform that lets you use JavaScript to easily create scalable server-side applications. It allows you to create efficient code, enabling a more sustainable way of writing software made of only one language across the full stack, along with extreme levels of reusability, pragmatism, simplicity, and collaboration. Node.js is revolutionizing the web and the way people and companies create their software. In this book, we will take you on a journey across various ideas and components, and the challenges you would commonly encounter while designing and developing software using the Node.js platform. You will also discover the "Node.js way" of dealing with design and coding decisions. The book kicks off by exploring the fundamental principles and components that define the platform. It then shows you how to master asynchronous programming and how to design elegant and reusable components using well-known patterns and techniques. The book rounds off by teaching you the various approaches to scale, distribute, and integrate your Node.js application.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
Node.js Design Patterns
Credits
About the Author
Acknowledgments
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

The difficulties of asynchronous programming


Losing control of asynchronous code in JavaScript is undoubtedly easy. Closures and in-place definition of anonymous functions allow a smooth programming experience that doesn't require the developer to jump to other points in the code base. This is perfectly in line with the KISS principle; it's simple, it keeps the code flowing, and we get it working in less time. Unfortunately, sacrificing qualities such as modularity, reusability, and maintainability will sooner or later lead to the uncontrolled proliferation of callback nesting, the growth in the size of functions, and will lead to poor code organization. Most of the time, creating closures is not functionally needed, so it's more a matter of discipline than a problem related to asynchronous programming. Recognizing that our code is becoming unwieldy—or even better, knowing in advance that it might become unwieldy—and then acting accordingly with the most adequate solution is what differentiates...