JavaScript in Node.js

One important consequence of the architecture we have just analyzed is that the JavaScript we use in Node.js is somewhat different from the JavaScript we use in the browser.

The most obvious difference is that in Node.js we don’t have a DOMDocument Object Model and we don’t have a window or a document. On the other hand, Node.js has access to a set of services offered by the underlying operating system that are not available in the browser. In fact, the browser has to implement a set of safety measures to make sure that the underlying system is not compromised by a rogue web application. The browser provides a higher-level abstraction over the operating system resources, which makes it easier to control and contain the code that runs in it, which will also inevitably limit its capabilities. In turn, in Node.js we can virtually have access to all the services exposed by the operating system.

In this lesson, we’ll take a look at some key facts to keep in mind when using JavaScript in Node.js.

Run the latest JavaScript with confidence

One of the main pain points of using JavaScript in the browser is that our code will likely run on a variety of devices and browsers. Dealing with different browsers means dealing with JavaScript runtimes that may miss some of the newest features of the language or the web platform. Luckily, today this problem can be ...