The principles of asynchronous event-driven programming are perfect for today's web, where efficient, high-concurrency applications are essential for good user experience and a company's bottom line.
The use of Node for tooling and server-side logic with a browser-based, client-side UI leads to a full-stack unilingual experience--everything is JavaScript. This saves developers, architects, project leads, and entire teams the cognitive energy of context-switching between languages, and yields rapid, fluid development cycles.
With a thriving community and success stories and investment from major organizations (such as Netflix, IBM, Capital One, Groupon, RedHat, PayPal, Fidelity, and more), Node.js is relevant to enthusiasts, start-ups, and enterprises alike.
Since the publication of the first edition of Node Cookbook, the technology, community, thinking, and industry around Node.js has taken significant steps forward. On top of that, the first edition was introductory in nature when it was published; Node.js was new, and there were few developers working with it on a daily basis. These days, developer mindshare around Node.js is widespread, allowing for a higher level of assumed basic understanding. To that end, Node Cookbook, Third Edition is an (almost) complete rewrite of Node Cookbook. It covers far more territory than the first and second edition, with dedicated chapters on debugging, performance, microservices, and deployment (all the topics that are either alluded to or not covered in the former editions). Node Cookbook, Third Edition, not only benefits from the enhanced experience and knowledge acquired by the original author since the first edition was written, but also draws on the expertise of coauthors Mathias Buus, Matteo Collina, and Peter Elger, who provide content for some of the high value chapters in this book.