JavaScript Vs Nodejs | What Is The Difference?

It is very common for students to get confused between two different technologies. They can have many questions in mind, and one such question is, what is the difference between Javascript and Nodejs. Both Javascript and Nodejs are very popular among programmers. But, they are completely different from each other. 

The primary distinction between Javascript and Nodejs is how these two technologies are applied in web application development. Nodejs and Javascript serve different purposes in the web development world. In this blog, we will discuss Javascript vs Nodejs in detail.

But, before going to Nodejs vs Javascript, let’s see the overviews of both these languages.

Overview Of JavaScript

JavaScript is high-level programming or scripting programming language that conforms to the ECMAScript standard. It was initially named LiveScript and first appeared in Netscape 2.0 in 1995. But, maybe due to Java’s buzz, Netscape changed its name to JavaScript. Along with HTML and CSS, it is one of the essential technologies of the World Wide Web. Whereas HTML provides structure and CSS provide styles to web pages, JavaScript adds interactive components that keep users engaged.

JavaScript-enhanced webpages are more dynamic and user-focused, which keeps visitors coming back. JavaScript improves the user experience by changing a static web page into an interactive one. To summarise, JavaScript adds dynamic functionality to web pages.

Whenever we surf any website on the Internet, we are most likely to interact with JavaScript. For example, the search box on a website, zooming in or out an image, a news recap video, slide through image carousel, and refreshing your social media feed are all examples of JavaScript that you may encounter on a daily basis. 

JavaScript Programming Example

JavaScript program to check a prime number:

Program

function checkPrime(x) {

  if (x === 2) {
    return true;
  } else if (x > 1) {
    for (var i = 2; i < x; i++) {

      if (x % i !== 0) {
        return true;
      } else if (x === i * i) {
        return false
      } else {
        return false;
      }
    }
  } else {
    return false;
  }

}

console.log(checkPrime(10));

Output

False

Overview Of Nodejs

Ryan Dahl created and introduced Node.js in 2009. It is a cross-platform, back-end, open-source JavaScript runtime environment that is built on Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine and executes JS code outside of a web browser. Many large firms, such as Netflix and Uber, use Node.js. It is a popular and lightweight web framework for beginners. 

It provides a cross-platform runtime environment with event-driven, non-blocking (asynchronous) I/O for constructing highly scalable server-side applications using JavaScript. Node.js is used to create a variety of applications, including web apps, command-line apps, real-time chat apps, and REST API servers. However, like PHP, Java, or ASP.NET, it is mostly used to create network programmes such as web servers. 

By Nodejs, we can utilise JavaScript everywhere- front-end, middleware, and back-end, and on any browser, including Linux, macOS, and Windows. As a result, Node.js is included in a number of major web development stacks, including the MERN, MEVN, and MEAN stacks.

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Nodejs Programming Example

Nodejs program to connect to database

Program

let DB = require('mysql');
let connection = DB.createConnection({
    host: 'localhost',
    user: 'root',
    password: '',
    database: 'mydb'
});
connection.connect(function(err) {
  if (err) {
    return console.error('error: ' + err.message);
  }

  console.log('Connected to the MyDatabase server.');
});

Output

> node connect.js
Connected to the MyDatabase server.

JavaScript Vs Nodejs: Detailed Comparison

Following are the main differences between JavaScript and Nodejs:

Technology Type

JavaScript is basically a programming or scripting language that can run in any browser with the JavaScript Engine installed. On the other hand, Nodejs is a backend JavaScript runtime environment. Nodejs requires libraries that can be easily accessible from JavaScript programming.

Application

JavaScript is often used for the client-side action of a single website. Any activity like form validation, dynamic page display at a set time, or a simple Ajax request is handled with javascript.

On the other hand, Node JS is mostly used for accessing or executing any operating system in a non-blocking manner. On an operating system, a non-blocking action is one that involves creating or executing a shell script, retrieving specified hardware-related information in a single call, obtaining installed certificate data in the system, or performing a large number of defined tasks.

Supported Engines

JavaScript can run on any engine, including Safari’s JavaScript Core, FireFox’s Spider Monkey, and Google Chrome’s V8. As a result, JavaScript programming is incredibly simple to create and execute.

On the other hand, Node JS only supports Google chrome’s V8 engine. However, written JavaScript code may run in any environment, regardless of whether it supports the V8 engine. As a result, there are no browser-specific constraints.

Operating System Access

Unique non-blocking task JavaScript includes several different objects for accessing any operating system. However, they are all operating system specific. For example, ActiveX Control is a Windows-only application.

However, Node JS has the ability to run non-blocking tasks related to the operating system from any JavaScript programming. There are no operating-system-specific constants in it. Node JS is well-versed in creating a particular binding with the file system, allowing the developer to read and write to disc.

Popularity

To get an idea about the popularity of JavaScript and Node.js, we can consider Google search trends graph. Below is the google search trends graph for the last five years for the terms JavaScript and Node.js. We can easily conclude that JavaScript is more popular than Nodejs. So JavaScript is the clear winner in the battle of JavaScript vs Nodejs.

Head To Head Comparison Between JavaScript and Node.js

Below is the head to head information on JavaScript vs Nodejs:

Conclusion

We have just finished our comparison on Nodejs and JavaScript. Both these technologies are vastly popular and used for web development. JavaScript is used primarily for front-end web development, and Node.js is used on the server-side. However, JavaScript is more popular than Nodejs. It is extremely simple to discover a resource for working on JavaScript and doing some specialised development. Node JS provides a cross-platform runtime environment with event-driven, non-blocking (asynchronous) I/O for constructing highly scalable server-side applications using JavaScript. Hopefully, your every doubt regarding Nodejs vs Javascript is cleared by now.

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