NodeJS vs Golang: Choosing the Best Backend programming language

Do you know the secret behind the success of apps like Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp?

If you are guessing the concept, the idea, the hype, the app, the UI/UX of the app are a show stopper, well, you are somewhere close. 

Apart from these things, the backend force that drives these aspects is the real show stopper of the applications. 

The backend of the app is the most integral part of the applications and choosing the right backend technology for making it highly effective and scalable is extremely important. 

To make things easier, there are a plethora of programming languages to choose from to complete this task. However, the task becomes difficult as there are many languages, and choosing one among them is nothing smaller than a challenge in itself. 

Here in this blog, to make things a bit easier, we are going to compare the two most prominent programming languages- Nodejs vs Golang. Both the languages though are evolving but have proved their worth for different projects. 

So, without further ado,  let us dive deeper to know the winner in the end.

What is Nodejs?

Introduced in 2009 and built on Google Chrome’s V8, Nodejs written in JavaScript is an open-source, server-side runtime environment. It is one of the most preferred choices by developers when it comes to cross-platform app development. Also, be an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model design, it is most recommended to develop highly scalable server-side applications. 

When it comes to why use node js, the answer is- it becomes easier for mobile app developers to write both server-side and client-side scripts all by using a single language. Furthermore, support from Linux, Unix, Windows, Mac is filled with open-source JS libraries meant for simplifying web application development using Nodejs.

By offering the best, the preference of this technology hiked in the year 2017, as per Google Trends, and is still high. The reason behind it is the availability of programming-friendly features, and core advantages to the developers.

First, let’s start with nodejs features:

Features of NodeJs:

1. Asynchronous Event handling: All APIs of Node.js library are asynchronous, that is, non-blocking. It basically implies a Node.js based server never relies on API that will bring information back. The server moves to the following API in the wake of calling it and a notice component of Events of Node.js encourages the server to get a reaction from the past API call. 
2. Multi-threaded:  One of the key Node.js features is non-blocking which implies that all capacities (callbacks) are designated to the occasion circle and they are (or can be) executed by various strings. That is taken care of by Node.js run-time. Node.js bolsters forking various procedures (which are executed on various centers). You should know that state isn’t shared among ace and forked procedure. 
3. Object-oriented: An immense grievance against NodeJS was down to its JavaScript legacy, which oftentimes included loads of conceptual spaghetti code. Structures like CoffeeScript and TypeScript illuminated these issues, yet came as a jolt on for the individuals who truly thought about coding guidelines. 
4. Two-way Binding: Sockets permits a server to communicate messages to all users associated with a particular thread. NodeJS has a bit of leeway as a result of its event-driven non-blocking programming, which makes it unmistakably fit to deal with bindings. NodeJS was the first to do it well and still shows improvement over some other structure.

After knowing about all these features, let’s get you to the top benefits of NodeJs along with its drawbacks:

Pros of using Nodejs

1.Robust Technology Stack

Offering too much for developing a web application, Nodejs has proven its name in the app development world. It can be proven by the report that almost 368,985,988 downloads with over 750 new contributors, the technology is growing better and stronger every day.

Using it as backend technology, developers would get the ease of- 

• Efficiency and developer productivity
• Reusing and sharing code
• Performance and speed 
• Team knowledge building
• Free tools

Also, by being flexible, the development time becomes less time-consuming bringing in fast and reliable software. Meanwhile, for frontend development, developers can do programming with minimum effort.

2.Event-based Model and Quick Processing

Compared to well-known technology like GO, Java, PHP, Nodejs is proven fast while handling concurrent requests too. 

Moving on, the V8 engine, developed for Chrome is meant to compile JavaScript functions into machine code that too at a good speed. Also, due to continuous improvements made to the V8 by Google, it has demonstrated the best performance every year giving an extra edge to Nodejs to excel. 

Next in the line is the event-based model. The benefits of languages used for both server/client-side helps in synchronizing fast affecting event-based real-time applications.

Besides its asynchronous, single-threaded, non-blocking nature, Nodejs has made itself the apt choice for chats, video conferences, gaming, or any project for constant updates.

3.Rich Ecosystem

Nodejs is quite rich due to 836,000 libraries and more than 10,000 published every week in its npm registry. We being the top web app development company has analyzed that more than 97% of a modern web application consists of npm modules. Thus, it is obvious to its being the most preferred choice among developers.

4.Corporate Support

IBM, Microsoft, Fidelity, SAP, PayPal being the founding member of Nodejs validates how it can become a great corporate support.

Also, organizations using it for their business operations are also highly increasing making it the best and trustworthy among others. 

This is the reason, around 300 well-known companies including Trello, Uber, Medium, PayPal are using Nodejs app development for their operations.

Cons of using Nodejs:

1.Unstable with complex tasks

The greatest downside of Node.js backend technology even now is its powerlessness to process CPU bound errands. In any case, to comprehend what the underlying foundations of this issue are, you need a smidgen of setting. How about we start with the rudiments, with JavaScript itself. 

As we probably are aware, Node.js is a runtime situation that executes JavaScript on the server-side. Being one of the top programming languages, JavaScript utilizes a solitary string to process assignments rapidly. Stringing isn’t required for it to work since assignments in JavaScript are lightweight and take little CPU. 

2.’Callback-hell’ issue

Because of its offbeat nature, Node.js backend web development depends vigorously on callbacks, the capacities that pursue each undertaking in the line is done. Keeping various lined errands out of sight, each with its callback may result in the alleged callback heck, which legitimately impacts the nature of code. 

Basically, it’s “where callbacks are settled inside different callbacks a few levels profound, possibly making it hard to comprehend and keep up the code.” 

3.Tooling  compatibility

In spite of the fact that the center Node.js features and modules are very steady and can be viewed as full-grown, there are numerous apparatuses in the npm vault which are both of low quality or not appropriately archived/tried. 

In addition, the vault itself isn’t organized alright to offer the instruments dependent on their rating or quality. Thus it may be hard to locate the best answer for your motivations without comprehending what to search for. 

As a full-stack technology, it will be a decent decision for web application development using NodeJs. Because of its non-blocking design, Node.js functions admirably for encoding and broadcasting video and sound, transferring different records, and information spilling. 

Moreover, there are some leading brands using this programming language for their projects:

Knowing what is nodejs, its features, pros, and cons will help developers to adapt the concepts of this programming language. Now let’s meet the competition – GOLANG

What is Golang?

Golang is Google’s product created in the year 2007 is commonly known for being open-source, multi-purpose, statically-typed. The language is a combination of C/C++ security and performance along with carrying the speed of Python.

Golang performance is widely known for handling concurrent programming while being recommended for garbage collection handlings, dynamic interfaces, and memory safety. Also, the language is apt for cloud-based interfaces, real-time application development, microservices, and networking applications.

Hence, get an in-depth understanding of why use Go language for next project can become fruitful for you. First, we will start with golang features, then will come across its pros and cons.

Features of Golang

1.Golang Is Fast

Google’s Golang is fast due to its compiled machine code. Also, programs created on Go are also compiled fast, thus results in small binary..

2.Learning Capabilities

What catches Google’s Go vs Node attention is learning capabilities. Due to Go’s small syntax, it can be easily learned by web app developers. Also, the language is quite clean and easy to read

3.Standard Library

Golang performance can be proven through a sound library along with having built-in functions with primitive types. Furthermore, it involves packages that made the language easy to handle I/O, web server along with manipulating raw bytes and cryptography. 

4.Support For Testing

Another reason for using Google’s Golang is its built-in standard library. Having a standard library on its side, Go executes tests fast.

5.Static Analysis Tools

Google’s GO static analysis tools got numerous advantages. According to Go’s suggested style, its gofmt formats code. Through this process of suggested style, the backend web development team can prioritize other work instead of following code’s doing. 

6.Garbage Collection

In comparison to C and C++, Google’s Go memory management is easy. Also, the garbage collected objects are dynamically allocated while using arithmetic pointers.

7.Concurrency Model

Believe it or not, concurrent programming is labeled a little difficult. But with the help of Go, it makes it easy to use. Thus, resulting in the creation of complex patterns. 

With it, let us now come to what is the fight between both of these languages meant for backend web development. 

Pros of Golang

1. Convenience: While Go probably won’t be as famous as JavaScript or Python, it shares one significant thing for all intents and purposes with them: it’s prominently easy to use. The linguistic structure is perfect and available to newcomers, and there aren’t a lot of complex capacities to learn. The similarities to C-style languages imply that it will be a basic language to learn for developers capable of C++ or C#. 
2. A keen standard library: Go users can achieve a ton without bringing in or learn confused optional libraries. The standard library that comes bundled with Go is advanced without overpowering, and it decreases the danger of mistakes from clashing capacity names. This is one of the major benefits of Golang when it comes to backend development.
3. Built-in Top-notch security: Simpler code is commonly more secure than confounded code, and that is completely the situation with Go. As a statically composed language, you don’t need to stress over mind-boggling and difficult to distinguish blunders that originate from increasingly powerful languages. At that point, there is a Garbage Collector that keeps memory from seeping off in your code. 
4. Google’s Advantage: It’s impossible that Google is going anyplace at any point in the near future. They’re probably not going to discover a competitor in the general search engine tech sooner rather than later. And they’ve in one way or another figured out how to push aside Microsoft as the superior and unchallenged leader of projects utilized in the workplace.

Cons of Golang

1. Oversimplified: One of the key benefits of Golang is likewise perhaps the greatest shortcoming. Go might be a simple language to get, yet that carries with it an absence of flexibility. Probably the most blazing dialects available highly esteem their unpredictability. 
2. Lack of a virtual machine: The choice of not combining Go with a virtual machine was a cognizant decision, and it’s not one of the benefits of Golang intended for usability. There’s an explanation that such a significant number of the well-known dialects today are dependent on VMs.
3. Still a new-comer: There’s a great deal of reliability in Go, however, it’s a language still in its young age. This implies it might lack some pointers in terms of being competitive. Go’s local library might be cleverly structured and effective, yet it’s rivaling dialects like Java. Be that as it may, it doesn’t accompany an industry of new libraries made by an energetic and drawn in the network like Java.

One should consider all the Golang features, pros, and cons before choosing it for a project. It would be better to learn its concepts before implementing it in your backend web development.

Here are the top brands and companies that use Golang for their web development projects:

Now you know all about these languages, it’s time to have a conceptual and brief comparison of golang vs nodejs.

Nodejs vs Golang- which one is better ?

Now that we have gathered a quick understanding of the benefits of Languages, it is time to dig deeper and figure out the best one.

Nodejs vs Golang- Factors affecting the Language choice

1. Performance
2. Maturity
3. Real-life performance
4. Error handling
5. Learning curve
6. Concurrency
7. Scalability
8. Development tools
9. Availability of developers

Let’s compare Go vs Node js performance through the following factors-

Factor 1- Performance

When it is the question of best performance between Go vs Node, Google’s Go somehow wins the show by rendering as compared to NodeJs which is based on Javascript. Also, Nodejs when comparing in terms of raw performance and computation, Go is the clear winner. 

Factor 2- Maturity

Google’s Go being introduced in 2007 whereas Nodejs came in the year 2009 share an equal level of maturity and robustness. Meanwhile, Node.js still has the support of the wider audience on its side. 

But the performance and maturity level wise, both Go and Node.js performance are on the same page. 

Factor 3 – Real-Life Performance

When it comes to real-life performance, both Nodejs and Google’s Go are capable of offering the same level of results at equal speed. 

Factor 4- Handling Errors

Another point that validates which language is best for backend development is handling errors. Node.js performance is still all about the traditional throw-catch error handling mechanism, one of the most preferred languages among programmers. Due to this traditional approach, the error is displayed and corrected simultaneously before going any ahead. 

Meanwhile, the error handling issue in Google’s Go cannot work without explicit error checking. Due to its compile-time and run-time errors handling mechanism, it becomes difficult for developers to work with it. 

Coming to the error handling factor, Node.js performance is better as compared to Google’s Go.

Factor 5 – Learning Curve

When talking about the learning curve, Nodejs is scoring high as compared to Google’s Go. JavaScript is the most commonly used programming language to make Nodejs easy for learning. Also, JavaScript being in the app development industry from the last many years offers online and offline resources to help newbies in the line. 

On the other hand, Go is a new lad in comparison to Nodejs with specific concepts, rules, processes, interfaces, and pointers. Apart from that, it has fewer resources available online and offline. Thus, it becomes a little difficult for developers to get handy information. 

Factor 6 – Concurrency

The comparison between Nodejs vs Golang makes the latter one wins when it comes to concurrency. Concurrency is on the side of Go making it a suitable option for big software projects. Using a lightweight thread communication mechanism, Go makes developers run functions concurrently. 

Meanwhile, Nodejs, on the other hand, makes the use of single-thread and event-callback mechanism. The practice makes it mandatory to opt for linear order which works as a hindrance for concurrency.

Factor 7- Scalability 

Next in the line is scalability which makes Go win from Nodejs. Go gets its edge due to Goroutines as its major asset that helps in handling parallel threads efficiently. However, it is not the case with Nodejs. Nodejs is a little scalable which flunked it from large projects. 

Between Go vs Node, here the clear winner is Google Go. 

Factor 8- Tools For Development

Because Go is a new language in comparison with Nodejs, it lacks when it comes to tools that are available with the latter one. Google’s Go does come up with a set of libraries and packages but still, it does not beat Nodejs. 

Also, Go asks for the first-hand experience in the manual configuration for developing projects. On the other hand, we have Nodejs flaunting its array of tools, frameworks, and libraries for app variants. Also, the latter one does have a huge community for all the extended support meant for development tasks. 

Hence, here the clear winner is nothing but Nodejs.

Read Also- 11 best Golang frameworks for 2020

Factor 9 – Availability Of Developers

Nodejs being in the backend web development industry for a longer run than Google’s Go takes the privilege of more developers. 

Though Go is newer in the market with fewer developers it does have a bright future ahead of it. 

So, when it comes to comparison between Nodejs and Google’s Go, Nodejs is again the winner. 

Both platforms have their own growing user base and benefits. Many prefer JS as it is the most popular programming language and is ruling the web development world.

Apart from these stats and comparative pointers, the market is also jived up with the presence of these backend web development technologies. Let’s see who is growing rapidly in the course.

Nodejs vs Golang- Market Analysis

It seems that both Node JS and Golang are growing. But, JavaScript is still the most popular programming language. However, Golang is improving in the rankings of top programming languages for backend web development.

Today, Node JS has reached 56,000 stars and one billion downloads on GitHub. The Golang people group, then again, is youthful and littler. Be that as it may, it is progressively developing each year.

The job and market demand comparison of nodejs vs golang is done by analysing all the differential factors give above.

• Occupation and Employment 

As indicated by the Developer Survey by StackOverflow, JavaScript keeps on involving the main position, being picked by 61.2% of designers. Go demonstrated a somewhat more terrible outcome – 4.3%. Be that as it may, this implies Go is as of now among the most encouraging dialects of 2018, in light of on basic Google search. 

At present, it’s still a lot simpler to accumulate an able group of Node.js designers than pick a group of Golang lovers. The main path is to connect with a legitimate group with current instances of their work. 

Google, truth be told, has GopherCon occasions yearly to accumulate Go designers from all around the globe to talk about and investigate new chances and changes. As per a Golang Survey in 2018, 59 percent of members (up from 55 percent) needed to add to the Golang people group. 

• Future Scope 

JavaScript is thriving in the current IT work showcase, however many hopeful programming designers believe that getting a vocation in this field may place them into inconvenience. This is on the grounds that different dialects command specific zones of the market, similar to a python on account of information investigation. 

On the other, Golang is somewhat turning into the most loved decision for web designers. As the designers are exchanging their play in backend web improvement from Java to open-source programming, this language is ending up being a masterclass. 

While one has a steady and huge network over the world because of the Javascript system, Golang is increasing some gigantic outcomes as far as prevalence and request. We should see who will end up being the great decision.

Nodejs vs Golang- Who is the winner?

Both languages have a set of factors to make them succeed in the market. 

If we talk about Google’s Go, the language secured its position for top-of-the-line productivity and multi-core power use whereas Nodejs is the apt choice for backend web development technologies.

Final words

Nodejs vs Golang languages are getting more competitive with the passage of time. Both languages are in demand for different purposes due to their set of strengths and weaknesses. Hence, your choice of languages will solely depend upon the requirement of your project. 

Meanwhile, if you still have doubts, we are just a click away. Contact us for expert advice!

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