Maintain The Quality of Your Node.js Apps With These Best Practices

August 10th 2021 new story

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Quality is derived from Selectivity

Node.js is an open-source, cross-platform, Javascript runtime environment for running javascript code outside the web browser.

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It is a popular runtime to write quality apps that are used by many people.

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We’ll look at some practices to develop and maintain the quality of Node.js applications.

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1. Organize your code:
   When we’re writing code, we might think we know how it works but it might be a problem when we return to it a few months down the road. So if we can’t understand it ourselves, we really can’t expect our colleagues to figure it out right away. So just keep it simple. It is easy to read a small chunk of code rather than reading thousands of lines of code therefore it’s a best practice to organize our code into tiny chunks and then make them even smaller. By following this approach, we can avoid complexities by making it easier for ourselves and for other developers to understand the code.
2. Avoid blocking require:
   Node utilizes a CommonJS module format so the modules that exist in separate files can be included by using its built-in require function. Require is used for importing a file that is previously exported. So, place all the require statements at the top of the file. As they are asynchronous, they will block the execution. It’s a good way to load the modules before defining the server for better performance.
3. Using a style guide:
   A style guide will make developers more productive as it reduces the unessential choices. It’s always a good idea to set a specific developing style and stick to it rather than not having any standard style of development. The best option is to incorporate JavaScript Standard Style. It’s a lot easier to understand code on a codebase when it’s written in a consistent style. It then reduces the overhead of thinking about whether to write with spaces or tabs.
4. Using asynchronous code:
   With Node.js, we’ll probably build web apps, so the async code is the best way to avoid blocking threads. Synchronous functions in JavaScript block any other code from running until they are complete and the promises in asynchronous structures will keep our code free from blockages. Therefore, in performance-critical sections, the best way is to use asynchronous APIs in our code.
5. Using Linting:
   We should use a code linter to check for the basic quality issues with our code. It checks for the common antipatterns to make sure that our code doesn’t have them.
6. Avoid vulnerable dependencies:
   There are tools like npm audit or sync.io to check vulnerable packages as quickly as possible without doing anything ourselves.
7. Test our code:
   Whatever stage we are on, in a project, it’s never too late to introduce testing. Start small, start simple. Testing will save us on many occasions.
8. Check code coverage:
   Test coverage helps in checking if the tests are running enough parts of our code. Code coverage tools help us in knowing which parts of the code have been run by tests and what hasn’t or how much part is left to test. Then we can focus on the code that we need to run with our tests to increase test coverage of our code.
9. Use environment variables:
   Instead of writing environment-specific config files in the project, we should take advantage of environment variables. Configuration management is always a matter of discussion. The method advised in Node.js is to use environment variables and look up the values from process.env in our code.
10. Handle Errors:
    Managing exceptions well is important for any application, and the best way to deal with errors is to use asynchronous structures. There are handlers like .catch() handler provided by Promises which will propagate all errors to be handled well.
11. Keep code light:
    It’s important to keep our Node.js code base compact to speed things up. One way to optimize application performance is by minifying and concatenating multiple JS files into a single one. For example, if our application has 4–5 JavaScript files the browser will make those many separate HTTP requests to fetch them. A better approach would be to minify and concatenate all those files into a streamlined one, to avoid the block and wait time.
12. Logging is important:
    As a developer, we have been logging in from day 1 of writing code, but not everyone knows the value it can produce and the best practices. As a developer, we need to debug some issues, we happily use debugger and breakpoints to understand where and what broke. Hence, this is where logging will help us. In Node.Js the console is implemented differently than in browsers. The console module prints the message in stdout when using console.log and if when you use console.error it will print to stderr.
    
    Now, we are ready to build a good quality product in Node.js. I hope this helps you🙂

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