Streams are one of the most important components and patterns of Node.js. There is a motto in the community that says "stream all the things!" and this alone should be enough to describe the role of streams in Node.js. Dominic Tarr, a top contributor to the Node.js community, defines streams as node's best and most misunderstood idea. There are different reasons that make Node.js streams so attractive; again, it's not just related to technical properties, such as performance or efficiency, but it's more about their elegance and the way they fit perfectly into the Node.js philosophy.
In this chapter, you will learn about the following topics:
Why streams are so important in Node.js
Using and creating streams
Streams as a programming paradigm: leveraging their power in many different contexts and not just for I/O
Piping patterns and connecting streams together in different configurations