Web development has become crucial to most modern businesses’ digital strategies. However, such endeavors are often blocked by asking, “Should we use Node.js or Python for our app development?”
Node.js and Python are the most popular technologies for backend development. And when it comes to web development, it could be challenging to choose between Node.js & Python. The selection of the right technology stack for your project is critical. This is primarily dictated by the project’s cost, launch timeline & how efficient it is to maintain and scale.
This question has and continues to stump countless companies worldwide; so, if you too are faced with such a problem, here is a quick guide to help you find an answer:
- Architecture: How a software system is organized or structured plays a key role in deciding the app’s performance and behavior. So, let’s get straight to the point: Node.js is based on a single-threaded event loop model that simultaneously facilitates managing multiple clients. Furthermore, Node.js involves fewer threads and needs fewer resources, too, thus delivering much quicker execution of tasks. Python is significantly different from Node.js in this department — it does not support multi-threading and doesn’t convert its code directly into machine code. Instead, Python first compiles the code into bytecode and then converts it into machine code via an interpreter.
- Use cases: It goes without saying that how and where a given development tool can be used is a vital factor to consider for companies looking to pick such a resource for their project. Node.js is best for real-time apps, thanks to its event-based architecture. Besides that, it can also be comfortably used for creating data streaming apps, single-page apps, I/O-bound apps, data-intensive, real-time apps, etc. With Python, you can develop data science apps based on visualization, data analysis, neural networks, machine learning systems, image-processing software, etc.
- Scalability: A given system’s ability to adjust performance and cost based on changes in the traffic and demand, and that too without affecting the app’s performance, a.k.a. scalability, is also a critical parameter that company must consider. In this regard, Node.js delivers, and how! With Node.js, scaling to several microservices is simple and efficient, thanks to the lightweight communication and quick execution of processes. Unfortunately, Python doesn’t fare as well in this department, owing to the speed of execution, lack of support for multi-threading, etc.
- Speed: Speed is one of the most crucial considerations for a given programming language because it decides how quick the app’s performance will be. Since Node.js executes the code outside the web browser, the app can deliver better performance and proves to be much more resource-efficient. With this one’s non-blocking characteristics and the V8 engine, Node.js is a terrific choice for real-time apps. Whereas Python is an interpreted language, i.e. it first compiles the code to bytecode before converting it to machine code. This necessitates a longer execution time for the app, making Python slower than Node.js.
There is no denying the fact that despite their differences, Node.js and Python remain among the most sought-after development tools for building web and back-end apps. Now, the decision of which one of these two tools is best for your company will depend on the unique requirements of your business. So, before you decide if you start looking for a Node.js web development company or one for Python, it would be a good idea first to take the time to carefully consider how each of the two measures against your project’s specific requirements. Then, you ought to start looking for experts.
