Ferenc Hámori co-CEO of RisingStack

The Node Foundation just released its latest annual survey on Node.js usage and development. The full report spans over 60 pages, so we decided to go through it and pick the most interesting facts for you!

Disclaimer: RisingStack is a silver member of the Node Foundation

Jump to Section:

What is Node.js?

In case you're new to the topic let's just make things clear first:

Node.js is a JavaScript runtime built on Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine which is used to build enterprise, mobile, web and IoT applications, robotics, API engines and so on.. But mainly webapps.

Okay, but what makes it great?

Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it extremely performant and easy to use. Furthermore, you can use npm or yarn to build software using open-source modules that you can use to speed up development.

That's it. Let's see the key takeaways!

#1 - Node.js is KING when it comes to productivity and developer satisfaction!

Reduced development costs and increased application performance are also important outcomes tied to Node.js.

This is 100% true. We spent the past 4 years with building Node apps, and the number one reason for using Node is the blazing development speed one can achieve.

Our own survey from 4 months ago also corroborates this. Read more:

Why Developers Love Node.js & what's their main issue with it?

#2 - Node.js is the go-to choice for Building Webapps

Also, the long-awaited enterprise adoption is happening!

The majority uses Node on both the back and front-end, which is clearly a key strenght of the framework. It allows developers to understand the whole codebase and make adjustments whenever necessary.

#3 - React, Express, Docker and AWS dominate the Node.js Landscape

Angular 2, Vue, GraphQL, Docker and Kubernetes rised significantly compared to last year's survey data.

When it comes to messaging systems RabbitMQ is the clear winner, while on the CI front Jenkins and Travis are head-to-head.

#4 - Node.js, Rust and Go are the most hyped languages right now.

The Node Foundation asked developers about the languages they use alongside Node.js. The answer is no surprise, Python, Java and PHP still have a strong presence in the Node community.

The interesting part comes when the developers let us know what languages they expect to use more in the next year. According to the survey's results, Node, Rust and Go usage will go up singificantly.

It's amazing to see how .Net, PHP and Java lose their influence over time and get replaced with modern solutions.

#5 - npm still beats Yarn

npm is the bundled, default package manager for Node.js. This didn't stop the Facebook team to release their own package manager solution, called Yarn - which aims to tackle some of the problems npm has.

It looks like Yarn adoption is already around 10% in the Node community, but it's still far from npm's popularity.

In case you're interested in how they compare, read our post: Yarn vs npm - which Node package manager to use in 2018?

#6 - AWS is the No.1 Node.js Deployment Platform

AWS is the primary place where respondents deploy code for production, and it seems to be growing for use in development.

Heroku grabbed the second place, but DigitalOcean is also a major player.

#7 - Documentation and StackOverflow are the primary source of Learning

While documentation and StackOverflow are still top, newer Node users are more likely than others to also use free & paid online courses and tutorial videos.

At RisingStack we've been blogging on a weekly basis about Node.js and it's ecosystem in the past 4 years. In case you'd like to learn more about our favorite platform I recommend you to check out our free tutorial series:

Learn how to get started with Node.js and deliver software products using it. Topics include: basics, project structuring, deploying, debugging, and so on..

Node.js at scale is a collection of articles focusing on the needs of companies with bigger Node.js installations, and developers who already learned the basics of Node.

#8 - Node.js Security is Still Hard to Learn

There have been significant improvements in the quality of learning resources, but Node.js Security is still a pain-point for the majority of developers.

We've shared a bit of knowledge on the topic, start here:

That's All Folks

The crew of the Node Foundation worked hard on making this survey happen. If you'd like to support them or you're in the mood to evangelize Node a little bit, please share the results of the survey!

Cheers,

Feri