The HTTPServer object is very close to the HTTP protocol. While this is powerful in the same way that driving a stick shift car gives you low-level control over the driving experience, typical web application programming is better done at a higher level. Does anyone use assembly language to write web applications? It's better to abstract away the HTTP details and concentrate on your application.
The Node.js developer community has developed quite a few application frameworks to help with different aspects of abstracting away HTTP protocol details. Of these frameworks, Express is the most popular, and Koa (http://koajs.com/) should be considered because it has fully integrated support for async functions.
The Express.js wiki has a list of frameworks built on top of Express.js or tools that work with it. This includes template engines, middleware modules, and more. The Express.js wiki is located at https://github.com/expressjs/express/wiki.
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