The internet connects billions of people around the globe, and its user base only continues to grow. It shouldn’t be very surprising, therefore JavaScript, the programming language of the web that powers every web browser across every Internet-connected device, is the most popular programming language in the world.
One limitation of JavaScript, though, was that it used to be a primarily client-side language, and the backend or server-side components of websites were traditionally written in some other programming language. Node.js, however, changed all this. It’s a server-side JavaScript run-time environment that allowed JavaScript to be run on the server side as well. This capability is priceless to hire JavaScript developers because it allows the full stack development of entire web applications using essentially just one language, leading to quicker and easier web development.
To make the tasks of developers even more convenient, several JavaScript frameworks have been created to dramatically shorten codes and decrease coding times. One such framework is Express.js, arguably the most popular Node.js framework. In this article, we will take a closer look at this technology.
Express.js: An Overview
Express.js was first released in 2010 by developer TJ Holowaychuk. In 2014, it was acquired by StrongLoop, which was in turn acquired by IBM in 2015. Through it all, Express.js grew from a relatively unknown framework to one of the most popular Node.js frameworks. With 33,457 stars on GitHub as of writing, it holds the most GitHub stars out of all server-side Node.js frameworks to date.
Express JS is a framework for Node.js, which allows backend development using JavaScript. Naturally, it works best with other technologies that also use JavaScript as the base language. One such technology stack is the MEAN stack, whose name is an acronym for the four technologies that comprise it: MongoDB, Express.js, AngularJS, and Node.js. All four technologies in the stack are JavaScript-based. It uses AngularJS as its client-side scripting framework on top of JavaScript, Node.js as its server-side run-time environment to run JavaScript, Express.js as its server-side scripting framework, and MongoDB as its database system.
When used together, the four technologies in the MEAN stack enable rapid development of full web applications, and an Express MEAN stack or a MEAN full stack developer only needs to learn essentially one language: JavaScript.
Express.js Features
Here are some of the features that Express.js brings to the table.
Rapid Server-Side Programming
Being a Node.js framework, Express.js packages many of the commonly used Node.js features, into functions that can be easily called anywhere on the program. As a result, complex tasks that would otherwise take a Node developer several hundred lines and several hours to program can easily be done by Express JS developers in just a few lines of code and within a few minutes. Express web application development is therefore much quicker than pure Node.js development.
Routing
Routing allows a web application to preserve web page states through their URLs. These URLs may be shared with other users, and visiting these URLs will take users to the exact page state that was originally shared. Node.js has a routing mechanism, but it’s a basic and rudimentary one. Express.js offers a more advanced and efficient routing mechanism that is able to handle highly dynamic URLs.
Debugging
All developers encounter bugs with every project that can cause entire applications to malfunction, and one of the most critical tasks of developers is identifying the source of these bugs and correcting them in the quickest possible time. Fortunately, Express.js provides an easy debugging mechanism to allow developers to quickly pinpoint which part of the application causes bugs.
Templating
Express.js provides a templating engine that allows web pages to have dynamic content by constructing HTML templates on the server side, replacing dynamic content with their proper values, and then sending these to the client side for rendering. In addition to enabling dynamic content, it also takes a significant load from the client side which may have highly variable hardware specifications, and as such, it can make applications more efficient.
Middleware
Express.js uses middleware to systematically arrange different function calls. A middleware is a chunk or cluster of code that has access to a user’s request, the application’s response, and the next middleware to be used. With such an architecture, it becomes easy for Express js developers to add, remove, or modify various features to and from the application, giving high scalability to the application.
Applications Built with Express JS
Here are some websites that were built using Express.js:
Other Skills of Express JS Developers
When hiring Express JS developers, apart from taking into account javascript developer salary , you need to check some additional skills to ensure your developer’s competence:
- Mastery of vanilla JavaScript and Node.js - Express.js is based on JavaScript, so it is imperative that any good Express JS developer be an expert in vanilla, or pure, JavaScript. Furthermore, Express.js is a Node.js framework, so equal mastery of the pure Node.js language is also a must.
- Experience with Templating Engines - Express.js enables server-side templating, and in order to fully utilize this feature, an express developer must have had some previous experience with templating engines.
- Experience with Asynchronous Programming - The base language of Express.js is Node.js, and one of its key features is asynchronous programming, which allows multiple operations to be executed independently of each other. This allows developers to create an Express app that’s highly efficient, and this is a feature that must be taken advantage of when developing using Express in Node JS.
Express JS Landscape
Let’s take a look at the popularity and usage of Express.js in various countries to get the general picture of the Express.js landscape and where the framework is most widely used. According to Alexa, which analyzes web traffic on different websites, the country that visits the Express.js website most frequently is the United States, with 20.6% of traffic originating from it. This is followed by China (15.3%), India (9.0%), Japan (6.1%), and France (4.1%).
The above data suggest that the usage of the Express framework is likely to be highest in these countries.
Meanwhile, according to Google Trends, which tracks Google search trends for different terms, the Google search count for the term “Express.js” in the last 12 months is highest in China, South Korea, Canada, Finland, and Sweden.
From the above data, we can infer that the interest for the Express framework may be highest in these countries.
In Summary
Node.js allows server-side development using JavaScript, and Express.js is a Node framework that makes it easier to create web applications using Node.js. With the framework, Express.js developers offer a lot of benefits to web application projects, including quicker development times and improved application efficiency. Several prominent companies use Express.js on their websites, and the technology is used in different countries across the globe. If you’re planning to create Express app, be sure to hire javascript developer with excellent experience.
