Node.js Fundamentals

Node.js is a JavaScript runtime built on Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine. It is used for building scalable network applications. In this article, we will cover some fundamentals of Node.js including modules, file system, stream, and buffer.

Modules

In Node.js, a module is a file that contains a set of functions or a library. It can be loaded using the require function. Modules can be local to the project or a third-party module installed via npm (Node Package Manager).

File System

The file system module in Node.js allows you to work with the file system on your computer. You can create, read, update, and delete files using this module. It provides methods for interacting with the file system such as fs.readFile, fs.writeFile, fs.readdir, etc.

Stream

Streams in Node.js are objects that allow you to read or write data continuously. They are especially useful for dealing with large amounts of data. There are four types of streams in Node.js: Readable, Writable, Duplex, and Transform. You can use streams to process data in chunks, making it more memory efficient.

Buffer

A buffer in Node.js is used to represent binary data. It is similar to an array of integers, but it is specifically designed to handle raw binary data. Buffers are commonly used to work with streams, file system operations, and other types of data manipulation.

These are some of the fundamental concepts of Node.js. Understanding modules, file system operations, streams, and buffers is essential for building efficient and scalable applications using Node.js.