Developing web applications with Node.js

In the previous chapter, you learned all about Node's key features that make it a great choice when writing highly-performing software and when you need to interact with a database. You'll be happy to know that Node.js is also a great choice when you want to build real-time web applications.

Node.js allows you to build modern, real-time web applications that use a module called Socket.io that implements WebSockets, allowing you to push data asynchronously from the server to the clients. This technology, combined with RethinkDB's Changefeeds, allows you to build web applications that send data to the clients in real time without all the complexity and downfalls of traditional real-time programming flows, such as continuously polling the server for updates.

When developing web applications, most languages and platforms provide you with frameworks that greatly simplify the job of writing TCP or HTTP servers. For example, the most popular framework for...