What is the Difference Between Node JS and Angular JS

The main difference between Node JS and Angular JS is that the Node JS is a free and open source cross-platform for creating server-side applications while the Angular JS is a full-featured JavaScript framework that provides support for developing dynamic, client-side applications.

Node JS is a runtime library and environment for running JavaScript applications outside the browser. It consists of a powerful library with different JavaScript modules that make web development process easier. On the other hand, Angular JS is a structural framework that allows the development of dynamic web applications. One major reason for the popularity of Angular JS is its ability to develop single page applications. In brief, Node JS is designed for server-side applications while Angular JS is designed for client-side applications.

Key Areas Covered

1. What is Node JS
     – Definition, Functionality
2. What is Angular JS
     – Definition, Functionality
3. What is the Difference Between Node JS and Angular JS
     – Comparison of Key Differences

Key Terms

Angular JS, Node JS

What is Node JS

Node JS is a JavaScript runtime built on Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine. Pure JavaScript is a client-side application, but Node JS runs on the server side. It is used to build scalable, fast and powerful web applications. It uses an event-driven, non-blocking IO model.  In other words, it works on a single thread using non-blocking IO calls. It supports a large number of concurrent connections. Node JS optimizes the scalability and throughput in web applications with many IO operations. It also allows Node JS to execute fast.

NPM or Node JS Package Manager is an important component in Node JS. It is used to install node modules. The modules will be installed in node_modules folder. Some important Node JS modules are as follows.

Express – Web development framework

Socket.io – Server-side component for web sockets.

Mongo/ Mongoose – Wrappers to interact with MongoDB

Connect – Extensible HTTP server framework

Coffee Script – Coffee script compiler

Redis – Redis Client library

Moreover, package.json file is at the root of the package or the application. It informs the NPM on the structure of the package.

Node JS can be used to develop various applications such as real-time services, blogs, Content Management Systems (CMS), social networking sites and other backend applications. It is also suitable for applications that are not very CPU intensive.

What is Angular JS

Angular JS is a front-end, client-side JavaScript Framework. In other words, it runs on the user’s web browser. It was created and maintained by Google. It is used to build powerful single page applications. There are different versions in Angular JS. The Angular JS or Angular 1 was released in the year 2009. Angular 2 is a complete rewrite of Angular 1. Angular 1 was based on controllers, and Angular 2 was based on components. There is no version as Angular 3. The latest version is Angular 4, and it is backward compatible with Angular 2.

Angular JS provide multiple advantages. It allows rapid development and code generation. It also has features like routing, event handling, validation, animations, and many more. It organizes the code and improves productivity. Furthermore, Angular JS supports unit testing.

Difference Between Node JS and Angular JS

Definition

Node.js is an open-source, cross-platform JavaScript run-time environment that executes JavaScript code outside of a browser. Angular JS is a JavaScript-based, open-source front-end web application framework that is designed to address changes encountered in developing single page applications. This definition constitutes the difference between Node JS and Angular JS.

Developer

Another difference between Node JS and Angular JS is their developer. Node.js distributed development project, governed by the Node.js Foundation, is facilitated by the Linux Foundation’s Collaborative Projects program.  Angular JS is an open source web application development framework developed by Google.

Method of Using

The next difference between Node JS and Angular JS  is that the programmer has to install Node JS on his computer to use it. The programmer has to add the Angular JS file similar to a JavaScript file to use it.

Written Languages

While Node JS is written using C, C++, and JavaScript, Angular JS is written in JavaScript. This is another difference between Node JS and Angular JS.

Other Frameworks

Furthermore, Node JS has other frameworks such as Sails.js, Express,js etc. In contrast, Angular JS itself is a web framework.

Usage

Moreover, Another important difference between Node JS and Angular JS is that the Node JS is used to build fast and scalable server-side applications whereas Angular JS is used to create single page client-side applications.

Conclusion

The difference between Node JS and Angular JS is that Node JS is a free and open source cross-platform for creating server-side applications while Angular JS is a full-featured JavaScript framework that provides support for developing dynamic, client-side applications. Both Node JS and Angular JS belong to MEAN stack.

Reference:

1. Node.js Tutorial For Absolute Beginners, Traversy Media, 18 Nov. 2016, Available here.
2. Angular In 60 Minutes, Traversy Media, 7 July 2017, Available here.

Image Courtesy:

1. “AngularJS logo” By AngularJS –  (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Node.js logo” By node.js authors – (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia