JavaScript is a dynamic programming language that has many takers in the real world. It is fast, get frequent updates and features, and simplifies the app (both enterprise and web) development process. Microservices build in Node.js ecosystem makes the job easier for the developers further. Before microservice architecture, developers stacked software development components in a monolithic structure. However, these architectures were difficult to maintain and update. Bugs could bring down the entire system and could take long time to fix.

Companies like Microsoft, eBay, PayPal, and Uber prefer using microservices on Node JS development ecosystems for building their projects. Lets take a deep dive into microservices by Node.js.

What Is A Microservice?

Microservices, or microservice architecture, is a software system where an application will contain a collection of loosely stacked or independent services. Being a cloud-native architecture, each service comes with its respective technology stack, database, and data management model.

From a developer’s perspective working at a JavaScript development company, designing a microservice architecture gives them the flexibility to work on the app without disturbing the core codes. They can update the codes easily, adding features and functionality to the app according to the business needs. Some of the popular microservices in the
Overall microservices, with their clearly defined purposes, simplifies application management and maintenance for developers.

Why Use Microservices?

The microservice architecture enables a developer to scale up or down components independently. It helps developers seamlessly translate clients’ visions into the code structure. Here are a few benefits of using the microservice architectural model.

Higher scalability

A collection of microservices, with a well-defined purpose, constitutes an overall application. These microservices interface with each other, ensuring smoother functionality. Unlike monolithic architecture, it enables developers to scale up or down with the resources for each microservice without impacting the application on the whole.

Ease in maintenance

Microservices architecture simplifies the job, especially for a new developer joining the team. Their supervisor could assign them a job only in the context of the service they are working on, without impacting the underlying code infrastructure.

Continuous development

You can keep on introducing new updates and changes into specific microservices, enhancing the overall performance without impacting the functionality of the system app or web development.

Developers involved in JavaScript microservices, prefer Node JS web development platforms. To need to have some understanding of JavaScript programming for building microservices for code infrastructure with Node.js.

How to Build Microservices with Node.js?

You can use programming languages from Java to Python to build a microservice. However, new-age developers prefer Node.Js for its event-driven architecture and real-time application development. It is fast, comes with pre-existing frameworks, is scalable, and requires minimal maintenance.

Here is a step-by-step guide on creating a microservice with Node.js. When you are building a microservice, the first step would be to understand the business requirement of the services. Your microservice should leverage the business needs, solving a problem or fixing an ongoing issue with the application.

In this guide, you will build a microservice with Node.JS for connecting with external API. The app will take the distance between two zip codes and return the distance in miles.

Prerequisites

Start with installing Node.Js. Now in the terminal, create a directory. You can name it as microservice. Open the newly formed microservice directory. Now, import the necessary dependency packages with npm. While Express.js handles the backend operations for Node, Request.js will establish the communication channels with external API.

For installing the packages, run the following command:

Here i stands for install, while –save makes sure the packages are added dependencies within the package.json file.

Step 1. Server Setup

Now, create an entry file, server.js, that will execute when the server resumes operations. Inside the server.js file:

Step 2. Specifying Routes

Create an api_routes folder, and inside create a routes.js file. Add the following code:

This file highlights two endpoints: /about and /distance/:City1/:City2.

The /about endpoint would provide application details. And the /distance endpoint will calculate the distance between two points using an external API.

Step 3. Setting up Controller

A controller object in Node.js converts user intent and returns requests. This controller will serve two functions, about() and getDistance().

Step 4. External API Call

After building controller logics, next job is setting up an external API call to manage the calls to third-party API. You could use free from ZIPCODEAPI.com.

Step 5: Execution

The application is ready to run unless you have missed a bracket or made a typo. If all stands corrected, the controller will represent functions and make the external API calls without a glitch.

Coding is complicated. But at the end of the day, microservices have simplified a developer’s job. If you want to learn more, contact us for an in-depth insight on suitable resources for beginners and experts alike. Join the Nettyfy Technologies for learning more about coding and software development that can help your career further.