Introducing Node.js

This chapter focuses on using Node.js to interact with RethinkDB; however, although you may have used JavaScript before, you maybe interested in knowing a little more about how this new technology works.

First of all, Node.js is a software framework built upon Chrome's JavaScript runtime (called V8) that can be used to develop fast and scalable web applications. Node is provided as a full-fledged platform as it offers a high-performance web development framework that can be programmed in JavaScript.

You may have noticed the presence of two keywords in the previous paragraph: scalable and high-performance. The reason for this is that since the very beginning, Node.js has focused on the performance, and this has been possible due to the way that Node is designed. In fact, what sets Node.js apart from traditional web servers and applications is its event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient and perfectly suited for real-time applications...