Book Image

Hands-on JavaScript for Python Developers

By : Sonyl Nagale
Book Image

Hands-on JavaScript for Python Developers

By: Sonyl Nagale

Overview of this book

Knowledge of Python is a great foundation for learning other languages. This book will help you advance in your software engineering career by leveraging your Python programming skills to learn JavaScript and apply its unique features not only for frontend web development but also for streamlining work on the backend. Starting with the basics of JavaScript, you’ll cover its syntax, its use in the browser, and its frameworks and libraries. From working with user interactions and ingesting data from APIs through to creating APIs with Node.js, this book will help you get up and running with JavaScript using hands-on exercises, code snippets, and detailed descriptions of JavaScript implementation and benefits. To understand the use of JavaScript in the backend, you’ll explore Node.js and discover how it communicates with databases. As you advance, you’ll get to grips with creating your own RESTful APIs and connecting the frontend and backend for holistic full-stack development knowledge. By the end of this Python JavaScript book, you’ll have the knowledge you need to write full-fledged web applications from start to finish. You’ll have also gained hands-on experience of working through several projects, which will help you advance in your career as a JavaScript developer.
Table of Contents (26 chapters)
1
Section 1 - What is JavaScript? What is it not?
6
Section 2 - Using JavaScript on the Front-End
13
Section 3 - The Back-End: Node.js vs. Python
20
Section 4 - Communicating with Databases

Performance implications

When Node.js was first gaining popularity, there were concerns about its single-threaded nature. Single thread means one CPU, and one CPU can be overwhelmed by large traffic influxes. However, for the most part, all of these thread concerns have been assuaged by advances in server technology, hosting, and DevOps tools. With that being said, the single-threaded nature also shouldn't be a deterrent in and of itself: we'll discuss in just a little bit why the Node event loop plays an important role in any discussion around Node.js's performance.

In a nutshell, to really differentiate on performance, we should focus on perceived performance. Python is an easy-to-understand, robust, object-oriented programming language; there are no disputes about that. However, one of the things it does not, cannot, and will not do is run in the browser. That spot is taken by JavaScript.

Why is this important and how does it relate to performance? In a nutshell: Python...