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ExpressJS

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ExpressJS vs FeathersJS: What are the differences?

Key Differences Between ExpressJS and FeathersJS

  1. Routing and Middleware: ExpressJS has a simple routing system that allows developers to create routes and handle requests with middleware functions. On the other hand, FeathersJS provides a more powerful routing system that leverages Express under the hood but adds extra features like hooks for pre and post-processing requests and responses.

  2. Real-Time Functionality: FeathersJS excels in real-time functionality by providing built-in support for WebSockets and real-time communication. It allows developers to easily create real-time applications by enabling real-time events and bidirectional communication between clients and servers. ExpressJS, on the other hand, does not have native support for real-time functionality and requires additional libraries or modules to achieve the same result.

  3. Service-Oriented Architecture: FeathersJS follows a service-oriented architecture which allows developers to organize their code into reusable and modular services. This approach makes it easier to manage and maintain the codebase by encapsulating business logic within services. ExpressJS, on the other hand, does not enforce any specific architecture and leaves the code organization to the developer.

  4. Database Integration: FeathersJS provides out-of-the-box integration with various databases such as MongoDB, MySQL, and PostgreSQL through its database adapters. These adapters simplify the process of performing CRUD operations and handling database connections. In contrast, ExpressJS does not have built-in support for database integration and requires developers to use separate database libraries or ORMs.

  5. Authentication and Authorization: FeathersJS provides built-in authentication and authorization functionalities, making it easier to implement user authentication and access control in applications. It supports various authentication strategies like local authentication, token-based authentication, and social login. ExpressJS, on the other hand, does not provide native authentication and authorization functionalities, requiring developers to implement them manually or rely on external libraries.

  6. FeathersJS Hooks: FeathersJS introduces the concept of hooks, which are functions that allow developers to modify or process data before or after a service method is called. These hooks can be used for validation, data transformation, and other middleware-like functions. ExpressJS does not have a built-in equivalent feature for hooks, although developers can achieve similar functionality by using middleware functions.

In Summary, FeathersJS provides a more feature-rich and opinionated framework compared to ExpressJS, with support for real-time functionality, service-oriented architecture, built-in database integration, authentication, and authorization functionalities, as well as the capability to use hooks for pre and post-processing of service methods.

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Pros of ExpressJS
Pros of FeathersJS
  • 380
    Simple
  • 336
    Node.js
  • 244
    Javascript
  • 193
    High performance
  • 152
    Robust routing
  • 73
    Middlewares
  • 71
    Open source
  • 59
    Great community
  • 37
    Hybrid web applications
  • 16
    Well documented
  • 9
    Sinatra inspired
  • 9
    Rapid development
  • 7
    Socket connection
  • 7
    Isomorphic js.. superfast and easy
  • 5
    Light weight
  • 4
    Resource available for learning
  • 4
    Npm
  • 3
    Event loop
  • 3
    Callbacks
  • 2
    Data stream
  • 12
    Real-time
  • 7
    Choose any ORM
  • 7
    Datastore Agnostic
  • 6
    Flexible Plugins
  • 5
    Choose Socketio or Primus
  • 4
    Easy Rest
  • 4
    Isomorphic Services API
  • 4
    Open source
  • 3
    Scalable
  • 3
    Easy to use with Graphql
  • 3
    Documentation
  • 3
    Service-oriented architecture
  • 3
    Data-driven APIs
  • 3
    Uses express, will support other options soon
  • 3
    Advanced Composable Service Middleware called holds

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Cons of ExpressJS
Cons of FeathersJS
  • 27
    Not python
  • 17
    Overrated
  • 14
    No multithreading
  • 9
    Javascript
  • 5
    Not fast
  • 2
    Easily Insecure for Novices
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    - No public GitHub repository available -

    What is ExpressJS?

    Express is a minimal and flexible node.js web application framework, providing a robust set of features for building single and multi-page, and hybrid web applications.

    What is FeathersJS?

    Feathers is a real-time, micro-service web framework for NodeJS that gives you control over your data via RESTful resources, sockets and flexible plug-ins.

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    What are some alternatives to ExpressJS and FeathersJS?
    Koa
    Koa aims to be a smaller, more expressive, and more robust foundation for web applications and APIs. Through leveraging generators Koa allows you to ditch callbacks and greatly increase error-handling. Koa does not bundle any middleware.
    React
    Lots of people use React as the V in MVC. Since React makes no assumptions about the rest of your technology stack, it's easy to try it out on a small feature in an existing project.
    Flask
    Flask is intended for getting started very quickly and was developed with best intentions in mind.
    Django
    Django is a high-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design.
    Golang
    Go is expressive, concise, clean, and efficient. Its concurrency mechanisms make it easy to write programs that get the most out of multicore and networked machines, while its novel type system enables flexible and modular program construction. Go compiles quickly to machine code yet has the convenience of garbage collection and the power of run-time reflection. It's a fast, statically typed, compiled language that feels like a dynamically typed, interpreted language.
    See all alternatives