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ExpressJS vs Meteor: What are the differences?
Introduction
Markdown is a lightweight markup language that is commonly used for formatting text on websites. In this task, we will format the content and provide key differences between ExpressJS and Meteor.
1. Scalability: ExpressJS is a minimalist web application framework for Node.js, while Meteor is a full-stack JavaScript platform. ExpressJS allows developers to have fine-grained control over the application structure, making it highly scalable for complex projects. On the other hand, Meteor provides a high level of abstraction and simplifies the development process, making it more suitable for small to medium-sized applications.
2. Real-time Communication: Meteor has built-in support for real-time communication between the client and the server. It uses a technology called WebSocket to establish a persistent connection, allowing data to be transferred instantly. ExpressJS, on the other hand, does not have built-in real-time communication capabilities and requires additional libraries or tools to achieve the same functionality.
3. Database Integration: ExpressJS offers flexibility in terms of database integration. It provides support for various databases such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, etc., allowing developers to choose the database that best suits their project requirements. In contrast, Meteor comes with its own database system called "MongoDB" and promotes its use by providing seamless integration and real-time updates out of the box.
4. Community and Ecosystem: ExpressJS is a widely adopted web framework with a large and active community. It has a vast ecosystem of third-party libraries, plugins, and extensions, which gives developers a wide range of options to enhance their applications. Meteor, although less popular compared to ExpressJS, has a dedicated community and provides a curated set of packages that offer ready-to-use functionality for different use cases.
5. Development Speed: Meteor emphasizes rapid application development by providing a unified and integrated development environment. It simplifies the process of building real-time applications by handling various aspects such as server-client synchronization, database updates, and user interface updates. ExpressJS, being more lightweight and versatile, offers more control and customization options but may require more time and effort to set up and configure for different development needs.
6. Learning Curve: ExpressJS follows a modular structure and requires a good understanding of Node.js concepts and middleware integration. It allows developers to have more control but also requires more knowledge and experience to use efficiently. Meteor, on the other hand, abstracts away many complexities and provides a simpler programming model, making it more accessible for beginner-level developers or those with less experience in web development.
In summary, ExpressJS and Meteor have key differences in terms of scalability, real-time communication, database integration, community and ecosystem, development speed, and learning curve. Depending on the project requirements and the level of control and simplicity desired, developers can choose the framework that best suits their needs.
Next.js is probably the most enjoyable React framework our team could have picked. The development is an extremely smooth process, the file structure is beautiful and organized, and the speed is no joke. Our work with Next.js comes out much faster than if it was built on pure React or frameworks alike. We were previously developing all of our projects in Meteor before making the switch. We left Meteor due to the slow compiler and website speed. We deploy all of our Next.js projects on Vercel.
This basically came down to two things: performance on compute-heavy tasks and a need for good tooling. We used to have a Meteor based Node.js application which worked great for RAD and getting a working prototype in a short time, but we felt pains trying to scale it, especially when doing anything involving crunching data, which Node sucks at. We also had bad experience with tooling support for doing large scale refactorings in Javascript compared to the best-in-class tools available for Java (IntelliJ). Given the heavy domain and very involved logic we wanted good tooling support to be able to do great refactorings that are just not possible in Javascript. Java is an old warhorse, but it performs fantastically and we have not regretted going down this route, avoiding "enterprise" smells and going as lightweight as we can, using Jdbi instead of Persistence API, a homegrown Actor Model library for massive concurrency, etc ...
Pros of ExpressJS
- Simple381
- Node.js336
- Javascript244
- High performance193
- Robust routing152
- Middlewares73
- Open source72
- Great community59
- Hybrid web applications37
- Well documented16
- Sinatra inspired9
- Rapid development9
- Isomorphic js.. superfast and easy7
- Socket connection7
- Light weight5
- Npm4
- Resource available for learning4
- Callbacks3
- Event loop3
- Data stream2
- Easy to use1
Pros of Meteor
- Real-time251
- Full stack, one language200
- Best app dev platform available today183
- Data synchronization155
- Javascript152
- Focus on your product not the plumbing118
- Hot code pushes107
- Open source106
- Live page updates102
- Latency compensation92
- Ultra-simple development environment39
- Smart Packages29
- Real time awesome29
- Great for beginners23
- Direct Cordova integration22
- Better than Rails16
- Less moving parts15
- It's just amazing13
- Blaze10
- Great community support8
- Plugins for everything8
- One command spits out android and ios ready apps.6
- It just works5
- 0 to Production in no time5
- Coding Speed4
- Easy deployment4
- Is Agile in development hybrid(mobile/web)4
- You can grok it in a day. No ng nonsense4
- Easy yet powerful2
- AngularJS Integration2
- One Code => 3 Platforms: Web, Android and IOS2
- Community2
- Easy Setup1
- Free1
- Nosql1
- Hookie friendly1
- High quality, very few bugs1
- Stack available on Codeanywhere1
- Real time1
- Friendly to use1
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Cons of ExpressJS
- Not python27
- Overrated17
- No multithreading14
- Javascript9
- Not fast5
- Easily Insecure for Novices3
Cons of Meteor
- Does not scale well5
- Hard to debug issues on the server-side4
- Heavily CPU bound4