If you are a beginner in programming, you must have heard a lot about Node, MEAN, Full Stack development, etc. These are the latest lightweight and sharp languages, Databases that ease development and allow developers to create applications with fascinating UI and features.
If you are already into NodeJS development keep the efficient tools close by to enhance the quality of code and output. There is a range of open-source projects and tools. These tools and projects bring finesse to your NodeJS development service and ease of working with the environment.
ExpressJS
NodeJS is easy and lightweight but when comes to handling HTTP methods, and serving files and requests it is handicapped. ExpressJS fills-in the gap and allows the development of APIs, web applications, and cross-platform mobile apps.
Even if you are working with JavaScript server-side language, out of browser. ExpressJS allows handlers to manage HTTP requests with diverse URL routes, and insert template data by rendering-engine integration, and middleware-request processing. It is a non-opinionated framework that saves lots of time.
ESLint
Any developer at any stage would love a tool like this. ESLint is a linting tool for coding that performs static analysis of code and finds errors. It points out the patterns and lines that may not fit in the conventional style or coding guidelines.
An analysis of code before execution gives developers a pre-check to correct or improve the code. The use of ESLint while developing projects in NodeJS helps in eliminating coding level errors that may cause a bigger nuisance later.
There are other compilers too that come with linting functionality but ESLint is a level up. The stand-apart feature of this tool is its customizability. If you need to apply any idiosyncratic rules for a particular project that vary from standard ESLint’s default set of rules, you can change these.
Visual Studio Code
VSCode is language agnostic and supports a vast number of languages and extensions. It works well with JavaScript and NodeJS. It integrates well with Git and reduces the number of files that are unnecessary in your code tree.
VSCode is a very popular editor amongst developers because of a few excellent features. It uses an electron framework with the Blink browser engine. It has code completion features, syntax highlighting, and error-amplifying features that make coding less error-prone and easy.
Socket.io
Socket.io is a library that enables low-latency, bi-directional event-driven communication. It is built on top and is not a replacement for WebSocket protocol. It provides additional guarantees that are not available with the WebSocket protocol.
With socket.io developers get multiple additional guarantees like HTTP long-polling fallback that allows the connection to fall back to HTTP long-polling if the connection was not established. Automatic reconnection, Multiplexing, Broadcasting, and Packet-buffering are other features of Socket.io.
Electron
If you want to develop desktop applications ElectronJS is one of the most powerful tools that utilize JavaScript and works with NodeJS applications.
The tedious parts of creating a desktop application like simplification of packaging, installation, updating, providing support for native menus, notifications, dialogs, and in the end optimizing the app crash reports are all taken care of by Electron easily.
Electron embeds Chromium and Node.js in its binary, enabling you as a web developer to write desktop applications without writing native code.
Hapi
If you are comfortable with plugins for any project or overall, you may prefer Hapi over Express.
No doubt Express is more relied upon and a popular framework but Hapi is fast growing as a favorite of developers. Hapi has zero need for middleware. It fulfills the requirement through plugins and is not dependent on external code. You will get plugins for everything, from routing to logins.
JavaScript Standard Style
With StandardJS by your side, you do not have to maintain style configuration files for every model across all your projects.
StandardJS automatically formats the code as per standard community guidelines. You do not waste time maintaining style configuration files and overcoming style errors during execution.
While working with a team or for a longer duration on a project StandardJS enhances efficiency and productivity.
Hygen
The idea of a code generator has been intriguing. Developers may like or hate a code generator largely because the help is too little to be good. In the case of Hygen you may find it very different and may save tons of programming if you use it wisely.
Hygen works well with React Native, ExpressJS, and Redux projects. It is language agnostic. Scalable and has contextual understanding. It can generate large commonly used code for these projects, and you can keep it local.
If you are working with a team, use Hygen, it will sit silently till you involve it and comes with many packages of its own. With the help of these packages, Hygen generates mundane code as per the generation rules you have set.
Axios
If you are a NodeJS developer and using Node-fetch request libraries for HTTP requests, it is time to use Axios. In the opinion of most NodeJS developers, Axios is safer, more reliable, and more secure.
There are many reasons to trust Axios like it handles errors better and also provides significant protection against XSRF. It also performs automatic transformation of JSON data and has interceptors.
Nest
It is a progressive NodeJS framework. If you are using a NodeJS framework like Express use of Nest will speed up the addition of modular organization and a wide range of libraries for finishing tasks quickly.
It supports databases like MongoDB and uses Typescript for server-side programming. It comes with three main components – Controllers, Providers, and Modules. It will help you build apps that are easy to test, scale and maintain.
Conclusion
NodeJS is a modern tool and embraces a forward-looking manner of developing complex and on-scale apps. To make the most use of this latest language keeping a tab on the above-mentioned tools help you do good programming to make great Apps.
Tools that support a language as forward-looking as NodeJS help you turn your App ideas into reality easily. The simplicity of coding and maintaining curtail unproductive hours that increase your output. For continuous growth as a developer make use of supporting tools and come out with exceptional work each time.
