NodeJS vs Python: The Great Backend Dilemma

With web applications becoming more complex, the amount of code you need to write increases at an exponential rate. For example, just one page of a WordPress site has over 2,000 lines of code. This presents a problem when you need to scale up your coding team, because it’s harder to find developers who have experience with Python or NodeJS than with Ruby or PHP, which are more commonly used languages and thus have larger communities behind them. So how do you choose which backend language to use for your next project?

Brief on Python and NodeJS

Python is a general purpose programming language. It is a flexible and powerful scripting language that can be used to build just about anything. NodeJS, on the other hand, is a JavaScript platform built on Chrome’s V8 runtime to enable the creation of fast and scalable network applications.

Key Differences: NodeJS vs Python

Node.js is a JavaScript runtime built on Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine. Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient, perfect for data-intensive real-time applications that run across distributed devices.

Performance and Speed

Python is an excellent choice for backend development, but it can’t compare to NodeJS when it comes to performance. In the end, you’ll want to choose a language that best fits your needs and what you’re trying to accomplish. If you need scalability, speed, or simplicity in your backend design then NodeJS would be a better choice.

Scalability

NodeJS is known for its scalability, which is why it’s often preferred in large-scale applications. NodeJS is a JavaScript runtime environment built on Chrome’s V8 engine. It can be run inside the Chrome browser, or installed as a standalone operating system with its own command line interface. Node has the advantage of being written in JavaScript and allows you to write less code than if you were coding everything yourself. It also has plenty of resources available online so that you can find solutions to common problems quickly and easily.

Universality

Python is a general-purpose language and can be used for both backend and front-end development. With its roots in academia, it’s been around since the 1980s. NodeJS, on the other hand, has emerged more recently and is primarily used as a backend technology. While you can use NodeJS on the front-end as well, it’s not generally recommended because of the way it handles data flow.

Architecture

Python is a general-purpose programming language which features dynamic typing, automatic memory management, and a high level of code readability. It’s often used for data analysis and it has built-in libraries for statistics, graphics, sound processing and more. 

NodeJS is a JavaScript runtime environment that provides an event-driven architecture with non-blocking I/O to handle requests asynchronously.

Extensibility

Python is an easy language to learn for beginners, and it’s the perfect choice for people who want to build a prototype quickly. NodeJS, on the other hand, is more difficult to learn but has many more useful libraries that can help you scale your project quickly. It comes down to what you want out of your backend: if you want something quick and simple, choose Python; if you need a scalable system with lots of third-party libraries available, go with Node.js.

Libraries and Tools

NodeJS and Python are both popular programming languages that allow developers to create backend applications. They are similar in many ways, but they also have some key differences. NodeJS is a JavaScript runtime that allows the user to build scalable server-side applications with fewer lines of code and more ease of use. NodeJava is based on Java, which makes it easy for Java programmers to transition from Java to JavaScript.

Use Cases

Python is a general-purpose language that can be used for web development and a wide variety of other tasks. It’s incredibly popular with data scientists and machine learning experts. NodeJS, on the other hand, is built specifically for building fast and scalable servers. It makes it easy to create real-time web applications like chat apps or video streaming services. NodeJS takes care of the back-end while you focus on building your front-end in JavaScript or another language of your choice.

NodeJS vs Python: What to Choose?

In the world of web programming there is no universal best programming language. However, the two leading languages in backend web development are NodeJS and Python. On average, NodeKJ developers are twice as expensive to hire. And because of this a lot of people lean towards hire python developers for their backends. If you want to know more about what these two languages have in common and why one might be a better fit than the other for your project, read on!