Node.js is capable of running multiple packages on top of it which extends it’s features and functionality. There are total 103187 registered packages available at the day of writing this post.
In post this i am going to discuss top 5 node packages and their ranking is based upon my observation around various projects at Github.
Rank 5 : Request — HTTP client
Is http seems horrible to you ? Are you not able to handle http errors ? then Request is a package you should give a try. This package is designed to make http calls simple and easy in node packages.
External link : Github repository.
Rank 4 : Grunt – Task Runner
If you are a developer then the only thing where your focus should be is development. But this is not true.
There are many things which diverts the developer attention and focus from the actual development such as testing, automation, restarting node server.
If you want to get rid of those non productive ( For developer it is) then you should try Grunt. Grunt is designed for automation, more the automation, less the pain.
External link : Github repository.
Rank 3 : Socket.io
Are you working on real time web applications like chat box, social network software or forum. Are you looking for something amazing which solves real time problems and works really smooth and easy to program.
Then socket.io is a packages you must try. It works on old school Unix socket programming but with additional rich features.
External link : Github repository.
Rank 2 : Mongoose
Mongodb is one of the powerful document processing database engine. Many web applications are using it and so Node apps too. Mongoose is node driver for Mongodb.
By using mongoose you can easily connect, create schema, put data or retrieve.
External link : Github repository.
Rank 1 : Express web framework
This is most starred package on node package registry and it really deserve to be. One of the easy and powerful web framework i have ever used is express. You can develop high performance web application with ease.
Various middleware like body-parser, cookie-parser make express dynamic and easy to expand.
If you don’t believe me then look at the list of companies using express web framework.
External link : Github repository.
Further reading:
You can learn Express from scratch by following Expres complete tutorial series. For more information about mongoose and socket.io visit their official site and see some awesome demos for inspiration.
