Golang VS Nodejs – Who Wins the War?

Today, web application developers have a wide range of options available when it comes to picking a programming language for web apps development.

These programming languages are not just viable for frontend development of an app, but the backend development too. Clear yet hidden, it consists of all the business logic and sensitive operations. Now, talking about the quality of an app, there are several determining factors like its ability to perform well and scale perfectly along with the maintenance of code and the entire system security. The above- mentioned factors have a direct link with the quality of the web application’s backend. Thus, it is always important to go for the right tool for the project.

Of course, we look forward to a host of options while choosing the tech stack for back-end development. Getting lost within the diversities of Ruby, Nodejs, Go, Python, PHP, and then taking the decision without much knowledge of the intricacies of these technologies might be a laborious affair.

However, we can lessen your task. So, in the section below we would give you a run-through of technologies like Nodejs and Golang, both their benefits and adversities as these two have been considered the most potential technologies in recent times.

Something more about Nodejs:

Nodejs is a JavaScript runtime environment based on Google Chrome’s V8 engine. Initially introduced at JSConf in 2008, this is a cross-platform open-source tool mainly used to create web servers. This runs JavaScript code, thus enabling developers to write both the server-side and client-side code without dealing with the problem of learning two completely different programming languages. Prominent companies like Netflix, eBay, and Groupon have already used Nodejs development services for full-stack web development and are now the most widely used JavaScript framework.

Learning about Go:

Go or Golang, is an open-source, statically typed, composed, cross-platform, and lightning-fast programming language which got its first introduction in 2009. This is for multi-purpose use, thus a good language for backend development. As per the reports of the Tiobe Index, Go became the Programming Language for the Year 2009 and 2016. Web apps using Go lists Uber, BBC, SoundCloud, and Basecamp.

So, after the quick intro, let us study the comparison between the two and get to see the ultimate winner.

• Performance: The performance of an app is directly responsible for its load and response times. This, in turn, relates to the customer’s satisfaction with the app.

In this regard, developers relate the performance of Go with C and C++, which is excellent. Go has no virtual machine and assembles to machine code, thus executing programs at a faster pace minus the warm-up time.

Also, Go is the perfect solution for building microservices owing to its tiny memory footprint and fast performance of Go apps, coupling with the convenience of statically linked binaries.

Here, Nodejs uses the V8 engine which is till now, being considered as the fastest JavaScript engine. Also, this is reusable and the primary choice for instant messaging, video chats, and online gaming. But, since JavaScript is an interpreted language, the time taken to execute written code in Nodejs is much more than the time taken to execute code written in Go.

Lastly, considering raw performance, Go is the winner. But in real life, Nodejs development services and Golang development services score equally in performance.

• Getting known to the Curve and Simplicity: Developers already acquainted with JavaScript would find the Nodejs learning curve easy. Even if not known to Javascript, there are several educational resources, to teach and guide, simplifying the learning process. Now, learning Go means getting a strong grip over a new language with its specific processes, rules, and concepts like channels, strict typing, coroutines, interfaces, pointers, etc. Thus, in case you have decided to hire Golang development services or developers deciding to use hire Go developers for the project means refers to the fact that they have to go through an entirely new language and again Javascript on the front-end, as Golang language is only for the backend development.

• Error Handling: Web development with Go is not a very good option as it calls for clear-cut error checking with the program flowing automatically. In conclusion, this shows impeccable results and better consistency. With Nodejs error handling might be inconsistent at times. However, the community of developers is known to this, and this results in a more precise and easy throw-catch handling technique.

• Appropriateness and Scalability: Primarily, Golang was designed for scalability and accuracy. Also, it is tailor-made for scalability due to its goroutines (coroutines) – functions that can be executed appropriately with one another. These allow easy and correct execution of multiple threads that might be performed both simultaneously and evenly. Go runtime lists a scheduler that keeps a tab on the execution of goroutines on system threads. Thus, communication between those is done flawlessly and gracefully.

  Here, web applications with Nodejs development are less graceful, as traditional concurrent programming in JS is done with event callbacks, and these are not very fruitful while talking of accuracy. Also, Nodejs is single-threaded. This leads to the fact that execution instructions are performed in sequence, not randomly. Thus, as a result, Nodejs concurrency support is not as prompt as expected.

  

Thus, the winner remains indecisive. But one thing is clear that there is no tailor-made language or universal tool for all projects. The secret is to spell out the requirements and needs correctly.

Also, to hire for the best GoLang web development services, opt StarTele Logic company. We promise you the best professional services in the area of the development of GoLang.