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What are the pros and cons of using Node.js instead of Java for a new backend system?

  • Java has Netty and Play; is faster because it is static; and has more mature development tools. JavaScript itself is neither more elegant nor more succinct than Java.   I am evaluating Node.js for the task of building a new backend system from scratch and want to understand what its benefits are versus Java.

  • Answer:

    Model code and tests can be shared between the client and server if we assume a web browser as the client. JavaScript is actually more succinct in a few small ways but these come with the "feature" of not requiring strict variable types. Node has a younger and more vibrant and active community. While I am unsure that Node will ever rival Java in popularity, its use is rising quickly while Java's is diminishing slowly. If you are developing in a team that does not divide into separate front end and back end teams, but rather does end to end development then there is a great advantage of not having to switch modes of thinking as you switch from backend to front end. This reduces stress from the cognitive dissonance associated with switching paradigms frequently.

Kevin Ernest Long at Quora Visit the source

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The answer to this question depends on many factors. The main ones I can think of are: How complex are the computations made by your backend system ? How many concurrent connections are expected ? The more I/O requests you do and the less cpu computation cycles you use, the more likely NodeJS to work for you. An extreme example for this case would be a chat application where you have, let's say 1000's requests/sec and they all fit in one thread (note: NodeJS has a single thread), so you avoid creating multiple threads + you avoid the time to context switch. In addition, because in Node, you want to keep your logic simple and not cpu hungry, the requests won't pile up and thus your response time become fast. Finally, here's a nice read that compares perforance of the two http://blog.shinetech.com/2013/10/22/performance-comparison-between-node-js-and-java-ee/.

Mouhcine Aitounejjar

It really depends on what you're trying to do with your webapp.  If you're doing a lot of io bound tasks then nodejs is just fine.  However if you find yourself doing a lot of of cpu bound tasks than you're better off using java or whatever jvm language you prefer because doing cpu bound tasks in nidejs will block the event loop and basically kill your throughput. Node and java/tomcat/spring are my tools of choice and I often use them together on the same project.

Jerry Hicks

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