Achieving Efficiency and Effectiveness in NodeJs/Full Stack Development

Full Stack Development, with NodeJS/Javascript at the core is great platform and base to build advanced maintainable services. This is because

• Development Efficiency: Full stack JavaScript Developers can work on a web app entirely in that programming language, making it easier for anyone in the team to understand what’s going on.
• Code Reuse: Since both the backend and frontend use JavaScript, you can reuse chunks of code that follow similar logic and implementation. Applications can be written in one language for both server-side and client-side execution environments.
• High Performance: Thanks to Node.js, full stack JavaScript developers can take full advantage of non-blocking programming and create fully asynchronous apps.
• Open Source: Virtually the entire MEAN  (MongoDB, Express.js, AngularJS  and Node.js) stack is open source. 
• Skills & Resources: According to a recent survey, JavaScript is the most-used technology with over 2/3rd'a of respondents saying they use it in some way.
• Plenty Of Resources: Incredible support, with tools, frameworks, and libraries readily available for developers, with one of the most thriving communities in the development world.

Like all similar technologies/frameworks, developing solutions efficiently and effectively ( ie keeping costs under control, risks managed and deliveries on time) still requires a focus on process, quality and standards. Businesses look for predictability, and agility ( both in project delivery and business ability to meet ts goals ). Outlined below are some of the key Best Practices methods and approaches that each and every NodeJs project should consider and adopt if it wants to meet those business goals : Version Control, Common Coding Standards, Application Structure, Testing,  Monitor Performance,  Security, Syntax & Linting, Optimise, Logging and CD/CI.

All should be adopted, adapted, agreed and built into each project life-cycle, owned by the project leadership, and then managed through execution by the product and project managers.

In this first of this article, we explore Version Control, Common Coding Standards, Application Structure, Testing and Monitoring a little further.

1. Version Control:

Version control remains the key / number one best practices for software development, Using version control ensures collaboration on a project, with tracked/audited change management, recovery, centralised backup and cross team visibility. Git based ( including Github, Gitlb, GitOps ) software engineering has become the norm in cloud based, distributed development, but CVS, SVN and VSTS are all still in common use. "GitOps" has become the backbone of the DevOps and CD/CI revolution, with automatic build, test and deployment across environments part of the drive to efficient delivery, and key to meeting the Agile Manifesto.

2. Common Coding Standards:

Sticking to common standards when developing a Node.js application will help ensure that the code is consistent and easy to read for everyone in the team. Javascript and Nodejs have several style guides and coding standards that developers can adopt to in order to maintain a consistent coding style and to ensure code quality. Each project should have a clear agreed standard that all members can comply with. . The most popular style guides include the Mozilla, AirBnb, Google, and the StandardJS style guide. AirBnb’s style guide focuses on user readability, while Google aims for concise code. The StandardJS guide is a more general set of guidelines that covers both readability and conciseness. There are a number of software tools that help enforce standards such as Prettier, ESLint, Husky JSHint. These can be used to check for errors in code and enforce standards, as well as additionally helping find common mistakes before being deployed. .

3. Application Structure

Modules can help organise code, and structure/thoughts to make it easier to maintain and debug -clearly defined interfaces, with separated logic, to deliver architect-ed solutions.  ( eg Model View Controller ).

Some of the key features include :-

• Encapsulation (bundling related code in a single source), can be used to restrict direct access to data and implementations of the bundled and related code from the code that uses them, implementation of the functionalities is hidden, so it can't be manipulated by other parts of the code, and change is controlled/managed. Encapsulation makes your code cleaner, maintainable, and easier to understand, reuse, and test.
• "Composability",  allowing functionality to be broken into pieces and re-assembled to form the whole function. It enables reuse of functions in other parts of the application, with benefits including: cleaner code, easier to reuse existing code, easier to separate concerns, and easy to understand.
• Isolation: Modules allow development by composing small, focused functions, with each  created, repaired, and thought of in isolation. Isolation makes it easier to understand, modify, and test code.
• Readability: Code is it easier to read.
• Organisation: When using modules, organisation occurs almost automatically because each part of the code is isolated.

4. Testing

Testing is essential for any software project, and important to carry out thoroughly before deployment. This can (obviously) help reduce bugs or issues before they become a problem for users. The most popular testing libraries/tools for Node.js applications includes Mocha, Jest, Jasmine and AVA ( covering a range of unit, system, use-case and performance based testing). Test-Based development is an important Agile approach that drives use case completion during Sprints using 'success' or end-state definitions built using test scripts or code. Once the test runs successfully, the code and hence the use-case or feature is complete.

5. Monitor Performance

Performance monitoring is essential to avoid problems with user experience, leading  to security vulnerabilities. By monitoring performance we are able to support and enable applications to  run smoothly at all times. Key items to cover include CPU usage metrics, events, Garbage collection, and Memory usage/leaks. There are a number of tools to support this for NodeJs, a few we cover here.

• New Relic: A full-stack monitoring solution for Node.js applications, providing performance data and insights into how your code interacts with its environment.
• PM2: A production process manager for Node.js applications, allowing you to monitor and manage your applications in real-time.
• Appmetrics: An application performance monitoring tool for Node.js applications, providing insight into how your code is performing in production environments.
• Keymetrics: A cloud-based service that helps developers monitor, debug and scale their Node.js applications in real-time.
• Trace: A distributed tracing system for Node.js applications that helps developers to troubleshoot performance issues quickly and accurately.
• Prometheus: An open-source monitoring solution for Node.js applications, providing metrics and alerting capabilities for application performance.

In the next part, we will continue to look at the key activities that can help ensure success in the most complex projects, including Security, Syntax & Linting, Optimisation, Logging and CD/CI. Part 2