Exciting Features of Node.js 17 You Need to Know

Web Application

Posted on 06 Jan 2022 6 min read Share On:

Node.js is among the most popular server-side platforms available today. It’s a backend JavaScript runtime framework that’s open-source and cross-platform. On May 27, 2009, Ryan Dahl (the designer of Node.js) released the first version. 14.17.6 is perhaps the most current LTS (long-term assistance) version.

Node.js has grown in popularity around the world, particularly in Silicon Valley. It’s a fantastic talent to have on your résumé. When you’re a web developer, this will open up a world of possibilities for you. In front of that, you could create various amazing apps, including social networking sites, real-time video and texting applications, multiplayer online games, real-time monitoring apps, and much more. The runtime has been improved with additional promised APIs, JavaScript engine enhancements, and OpenSSL 3.0 support throughout this version.

Let’s explore a few of the significant features of the Latest Version of Node.js 17.

Asynchronous and event-driven:

The APIs inside the Node.js library all seem to be asynchronous (non-blocking). A server is written in Node.JS never has to wait for information from an API.
Scalable:

Node js handles scalability, among the most critical challenges in software development. Several businesses nowadays require scalable software, and Node js is also capable of handling several requests simultaneously.
Single-Threaded:

Node.js is scalable because it uses a single-threaded design with events looping. Unlike traditional servers that generate restricted threads to processing requests, the event feature enables the node.js server to respond non-blocking and extensible. Node.js employs single-threaded software that can manage a far greater number of requests than conventional servers such as Apache HTTP Server.
Code execution speed:

The V8 JavaScript Runtime motor, also utilized by Google Chrome, is used by Node.js. Hub offers a wrapper for such a JavaScript motor, allowing the runtime engine to execute quickly.
Compatibility:

Node js is compatible with a wide range of operating systems, such as Windows, Unix, Linux, Mac OS X, and portable devices. It could be used with the right package to create a self-contained executable.
Uses JavaScript:

The Node.js library makes usage JavaScript, which is yet another significant feature of Node.js from the engineer’s viewpoint. The majority of the engineers have already been acquainted with.
New promise-based APIs

Promise-based APIs for such DNS, fs, stream and timers modules have been introduced in the recent a few significant Node.js versions. This effort has been carried towards the readline module in Node.js 17, which mainly takes input from the command prompt.

The reading/promises module provides accessibility to the newer APIs. For the reading module, we earlier utilized callback functions. When importing it from reading/promises, you would now be able to use async.
API for Readline Promises

The readline module offers an interface for reading data one line at a time from a Readable stream (such as process.stdin). Whenever the regular expression has the /d flag, the indices arrays are accessible—indices property on matching objects.
Support for OpenSSL 3.0

The freshly released OpenSSL 3.0 version is now supported by Node.js 17. The goal is for OpenSSL 3.0 APIs to be backward interoperable with earlier OpenSSL versions. Nevertheless, tighter key lengths and method constraints may influence the system, mainly if users use minor keys or earlier algorithms.

If your applications or dependents utilize an algorithm or key length that isn’t permitted in OpenSSL 3.0, you’ll see the error code ERR OSSL EVP UNSUPPORTED in Node.js 17. As a transitory workaround, you could use —OpenSSL-legacy-provider command-line flag to activate the OpenSSL 3.0 legacy providers.
Deprecations

The Node.js version seeks to minimize the impact of any disruptive changes upon that ecosystem. The project employs a technique known as CITGM (Canary in the Goldmine) to assess the effects of any disruptive modifications (including deprecations) on a massive range of prominent ecosystem modules to get extra insight before deploying these modifications.
Upgraded to version 9.5

The v8 JavaScript engine has indeed been upgraded to v9.5 in the latest version Node.js 17.

This one will improve the efficiency of your applications and the developing experiences. The modifications in this version primarily focus on enhancing internationalization for dates and calendars, and also time zones outcome:
- Additional types that can be used with the Intl.DisplayNames API
- The Intl.DateTimeFormat API Extended timeZoneName parameters.
The V8 engine in Node.js versions16.0.0 has been updated to V8 9.0, up from V8 8.6 in Node.js 15. The ECMAScript RegExp Match Indices, which provide begin and finish index values of the recorded string, are included in this version.
Stack Traces will include the Node.js version

While troubleshooting a problem, a popular inquiry for programmers is, “What versions of Node.js were being used?” When an undetected exception happens in the latest version Node.js 17, the version number is included after the stack trace, making it simpler to convey this data.

Unless you’d instead not see this data in your program’s stack trace, begin your Node.js scripts with the —no-extra-info-on-fatal-exception command-line flag.
Upgrading from Node.js 16 to Node.js 17

You may get Node.js 17 for your computer by going to the Node.js download page and selecting the appropriate link for your operating system and architecture. Using a Node.js environment management platform like Volta, which lets you download and switch between several Node.js versions smoothly, is indeed a superior approach to manage Node.js updates on your workstation.

Conclusion

Check out the latest version of Node.js, Node.js 17. We genuinely appreciate hearing from you. Evaluating your applications and modules with Node.js 17. It is important to opt for end-to-end Nodejs development services to ensure that your project will be compatible with the newest Node.js improvements and additions in the upcoming.

Node.js 16 has been elevated to LTS status with this significant upgrade. This LTS version includes the core pack script that links the entity framework and the Node.js App Applications designed during programming. This means that users would be able to use npm and yarn without installing them, and this implies that several of the functionality would be supported indefinitely. As a result, now is an excellent opportunity to upgrade to the latest version Node.js 17, as Node.js version 12 would be deprecated in 2022.

So, is it essential to upgrade to the latest version of Node.js 17? Although it is not an LTS version, it contains some significant upgrades that you should not overlook. So I’ll let you decide whether or not to upgrade.