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Build API-driven modern applications!
First, Ill share leading JavaScript frameworks, then will discuss API-first design and its popularity.
Hapi
Hapiis a simple, secure, and open-source JavaScript framework.
It is used to build powerful, scalable applications with minimal overhead.
Free support is always available on theGitHub.
Restify
Restifyis optimized for buildingsemantically correctRESTful web services ready for production use at scale.
It optimizes for introspection and performance and is used in most of the largest Node.js deployments.
There are actually three separate clients shipped in Restify:
The detailed development guide could be foundhere.
ExpressJS
ExpressJsis a project of theOpenJS Foundation.
are based on Express.
Since it provides a layer on top of node.js, we can efficiently pull up the JavaScript functions.
ForAPI development, it contains intermediate handlers and many HTTP service/utility methods.
SailsJS
SailsJSis an MVC framework build under the Sails company headquartered in Austin, TX.
It was developed byMike McNeilto assist his team in building scalable Node.js projects for startup and enterprise customers.
Since its release in 2012, Sails has become one of the most widely-used web system frameworks globally.
It is a lightweight that sits on top of Express.
It is compatible with any front-end: Angular, React, iOS, Android.
Sails claim to get integrated with any database through its powerful ORM called Waterline.
It uses Express for handling HTTP requests and wraps socket.io for managing WebSockets.
Action Hero
Actionherois a multi-transport API Server with integrated cluster capabilities and delayed tasks.
It was built from the ground up to include all the features we expect from a modern API framework.
LoopBack
LoopBackis a highly extensible, open-source Node.js and TypeScript framework based on Express.
LoopBack allows us to create a GraphQL interface for any REST API using OpenAPI-to-GraphQL.
We can get started with Loopback in no time by just following its steps ingetting started guide.
We can build prototypes in minutes and production-ready apps in days.
To get started with the first Feathers tool, follow thequick start guide.
KoaJS
The team behind Express designs Koa.
It aims to be a smaller, more expressive, and robust foundation for web applications and APIs.
By leveraging async functions, Koa allows us to ditch callbacks and greatly increase error-handling.
Get it started in three commands as below.
AdonisJS
AdonisJsis a Node.js MVC framework that is maintained and backed by avibrant community.
It is like any other npm module with some code on top to work smoothly with AdonisJs applications.
check that to read through theinstallationguide.
In case of any queries or bugs, one can communicate with the AdonisJs team through the below channels.
The basis of the platform is a server-side framework called Total.js framework and a client-side library called jComponent.
Both parts were written from scratch.
Moleculer
Moleculeris a fast, modern, and powerful microservices framework for Node.js.
It provides many features for building and managing your microservices, such as:
12.
Fastify
Start your journey with Fastify.
Fastifyis highly focused on providing the best developer experience with the least overhead and a powerful plugin architecture.
Hapi and Express inspire it, and it is one of the fastest web frameworks in the industry.
It is fully extensible via its hooks, plugins, and decorators.
Accelerate web program development with the framework, tools, and components built to help you work seamlessly.
The data package is protocol agnostic that can consume data from the back-end sources.
More JavaScript frameworks for you to consider…
I would also like to share the following JS frameworks to build UIs & frontend.
Ember.js best for building UIs.
Backbone.js best to represent data as models.
Mithril client-side JS framework.
Svelte best to build frontend.
Meteor best to build real-time apps.
Aurelia component-based architecture to build UIs.
What is an API-first approach?
We all have heard the term called API first design or just APIs.
Actually, the term API first design became popular after the industry started mentioning the term cloud-native software.
All the interactions with these microservices from Web, Android, or iOS devices need to happen through APIs.
Therefore, design for these APIs plays a major role in providing data to these interfaces.
This means microservices have only one medium to communicate that is nothing but APIs.
Thus, API first design principle comes here into the picture.
We need to consider designing our API first in mind before even writing the implementation for our microservices/backend services.
Remember: APIs are business drivers, so develop it at the beginning of the development of a system.
In the API-first design approach, an API is considered as a First-class citizen.
Amazon was among the first company which instructed its employees to use this approach.
Benefits of API-first approach
Plenty!
The following are some of them.
Now lets explore one of the powerful languages of the web, which helps us implement the above-discussed approach.
JavaScript is a high-level, interpreted, client-side scripting language.
It is used to make web pages more interactive.
It lets us implement complex and beautiful designs.
Also, it does not require to be compiled, unlike C, C++, and Java.
JavaScript can execute in the online window and on the server and any gadget with a javascript engine.
This is good to mention that JavaScript has nothing to do with Java.
Then the question is, why is it called JavaScript?
Is it limited to the client-side?
JavaScript was initially designed to run in a surfing app as a client-side programming language.
But now it has been evolved a lot, and it is more than what it used to be.
An example of such a framework isNodeJs.
This is not the end of the capabilities of JavaScript.
An example of such a framework is ReactJS.
Popularity of JavaScript
JavaScript is arguably one of the most important languages today.
The rise of the web has taken JavaScript places it was never conceived to be.
Currently, we have more than 100 programming languages, and every year new languages are being introduced.
Among these, a few powerful languages bring quick changes in the market, and JavaScript is definitely one.
It has always been in the list of popular programming languages.
According toStackOverflow, JavaScript is the most popular and commonly used programming language.
Nearly 70% of professional developers who responded to the 2020 Stack Overflow survey coded in JavaScript.
Conclusion
Building API can be challenging, but with the right framework, life is much easier.
Explore the above-listed framework for your next API and Microservices and pick the best-suited one.
Once you build, dont forget tomonitor the API endpoints.
