The latest version of Node.js will significantly increase the DevOps challenges surrounding the most widely used version of JavaScript in the enterprise. Node.js 8 adds the ability to support HTTP/2, a major revision of the core internet protocol that, in addition to being significantly faster, enables developers to make multiple requests over a single connection as well as set up pipelines for making a series of requests.
Myles Borins, director of the Node.js Project and member of the technical steering committee at The Node.js Foundation, notes that while HTTP/2 eventually will be supported by multiple programming languages, DevOps teams most likely will encounter it first in web and mobile applications built using Node.js.
Borins says HTTP/2 also should go a long way to accelerating the adoption of microservices applications—the majority of which are being built using Node.js.
Node.js 8, available under a Long-Term Support (LTS) license, is 20 percent faster than its predecessors, Borins says. It is based on the JavaScript V8 engine that makes use of Turbofan and the Ignition compilers and interpreters, which equates to lower memory consumption and faster startup time across Node.js applications.
Other new features include an Async/Await capability that allows developers to write more linear code versus relying on callbacks and a series of Experimental ES Modules that provide a standard pattern for writing modular JavaScript code that can run on both the web and in Node.js.
Node.js 4 is now scheduled to be designated for end-of-life status in April, and Node.js 6 will face a similar fate soon after. The Node.js Foundation is encouraging organizations that have deployed Node.js applications to refresh them because security patches and updates soon no longer will be available for the core engines used in Node.js 4 and 6 applications. Node.js API (N-API), a project that enables modules to run against new versions of Node.js, is still considered experimental. That project is being lead jointly by Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, nearForm, NodeSource and individual contributors.
The Node.js Foundation also announced that work has begun on Node,js 9, which is focused on modernizing legacy application programming interfaces (APIs) and implementing a new error system that associates a unique code with all errors in place of relying on traditional error messages.
The Node.js Foundation estimates there more than 9 million instances of Node.js deployed across the web today, so managing Node.js applications across their life cycle has become a significant DevOps challenge. While Node.js is not the only programming language gaining momentum across the enterprise, the Node.js community is highly focused on increasing the robustness and manageability of Node.js applications in a way that should eventually please even some of the most hardcore fans on rival languages such as Java or even COBOL.
