How to Create Node JS REST API? 4 Frameworks to Discover
Github users give over 42k stars to this repository, while NPM statistics show over 1 million weekly downloads. Nest is a framework for building efficient, scalable, server-side applications. Creators use TypeScript and combine many programming attitudes: object-oriented, functional, and functional-reactive.
Nest uses Express under the hood. It aims to provide an architecture that allows the effortless creation of highly testable, scalable, loosely coupled, and easily maintainable applications. The architecture is heavily inspired by one of the frontend frameworks – Angular.
Nest has a built-in CLI method to create a new application. To use it, we need to install the CLI first by running the command “npm install -g @nestjs/cli”. Moreover, in the location where we want to create a new application, we have to use the command “nest new {project name}”.
Because of the architecture, even the most trivial application cannot be written in one file, as controllers, modules, and services have to be separated.
Nest is the most complex of all described frameworks. It’s full of decorators and custom logic which causes a higher entry threshold than other frameworks.
Advantages
- Uses TypeScript by default.
- Modular structure.
- Built-in dependency injection container.
- No strong coupling between components.
- Architecture inspired by Angular – friendly for Angular developers.
Disadvantages
- Deployment causes some downtime.
- Too complex for many developers.
Performance
One of the most important criteria while selecting a framework is performance. On the website of a different Node.js framework, there are results of benchmark testing the performance of selected frameworks.
All of the frameworks we took into consideration above, were part of this test, with the exception of Nest.js.
Please note that the benchmark test data is constantly updated. On (Date) when this article was published the leader was Koa, right before Hapi, while Express was the last. Since Nest uses Express under the hood, we can actually place Nest next to Express, in the last place.
Truthfully, it’s so hard to compare performance between all the frameworks without complex applications created in all of them. Taking that into account, please remember that the results presented above could be different in apps with more complexity.
Node JS REST API: The Summary
Node.js extends JavaScript’s ability to create complex web applications and makes this language one of the most popular programming languages in the world in recent years.
It’s a relatively new technology and it’s still growing. There are many frameworks you can create a RESTful API with, and new ones are being created all the time. Frameworks, as you can see in this article, have their own pros and cons, and selecting the best one is simply not possible without taking into consideration the scope of your project.
An important thing is developers’ reviews about the frameworks that you need to use in the project. It can give you a broader view of the solution you will be using. The bigger the community, the better the framework you want to use. It means that many people use it and you have more chances to find a solution on the internet when you have a problem with something.
Last but not least, think about the size of your project. If you want to write a simple RESTful API without scaling it up, then it’s probably better to use a simpler framework like Express or maybe write the code in pure JavaScript. On the other hand, if you plan to build a solution that will grow to be large and complex and want to make sure the code will be scalable, Nest will be a better option. The point is to choose wisely and always select a tool adequate to the given problem.
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