Non-blocking I/O in Node.js: Underlying Principles for High-Concurrency Scenarios
This article focuses on explaining Node.js non-blocking I/O and its advantages. Traditional synchronous blocking I/O causes programs to wait for I/O completion, leaving the CPU idle and resulting in extremely low efficiency under high concurrency. Non-blocking I/O, by contrast, initiates a request without waiting, immediately executing other tasks, and notifies completion through callback functions, which are uniformly scheduled by the event loop. Node.js implements non-blocking I/O through the event loop and the libuv library: asynchronous I/O requests are handed over to the kernel (e.g., Linux epoll) by libuv. The kernel monitors I/O completion status, and upon completion, the corresponding callback is added to the task queue. The main thread is not blocked and can continue processing other tasks. Its high concurrency capability arises from: a single-threaded JS engine that does not block, with a large number of I/O requests waiting concurrently. The total time consumed is only the average time per single request, not the sum. libuv abstracts cross-platform I/O models and maintains an event loop (handling microtasks, macrotasks, and I/O callbacks) to uniformly schedule callbacks. Non-blocking I/O enables Node.js to excel in scenarios such as web servers, real-time communication, and I/O-intensive data processing. It is the core of Node.js's high concurrency handling, efficiently supporting tasks like front-end engineering and API services.
Read MoreFrontend Developers Learning Node.js: The Mindset Shift from Browser to Server
This article introduces the necessity and core points for front-end developers to learn Node.js. Based on Google Chrome's V8 engine, Node.js enables JavaScript to run on the server-side, overcoming the limitations of front-end developers in building back-end services and enabling full-stack development. Its core features include "non-blocking I/O" (handling concurrent requests through the event loop), "full-access" environment (capable of operating on files and ports), and the "CommonJS module system". For front-end developers transitioning to back-end roles, mindset shifts are required: changing from the sandboxed (API-limited) runtime environment to a full-access environment; transforming asynchronous programming from an auxiliary task (e.g., setTimeout) to a core design principle (to avoid server blocking); and adjusting from ES Modules to CommonJS (require/module.exports) for module systems. The learning path includes: mastering foundational modules (fs, http), understanding asynchronous programming (callbacks/Promise/async), developing APIs with frameworks like Express, and exploring the underlying principles of tools such as Webpack and Babel. In summary, Node.js empowers front-end developers to build full-stack capabilities without switching programming languages, enabling them to understand server-side logic and expand career horizons. It is a key tool for bridging the gap between front-end and back-end development.
Read MoreNode.js Event Loop: Why Is It So Fast?
This article uses the analogy of a coffee shop waiter to explain the core mechanism of Node.js for efficiently handling concurrent requests—the event loop. Despite being single-threaded, Node.js can process a large number of concurrent requests efficiently, with the key lying in the collaboration between non-blocking I/O and the event loop: when executing asynchronous operations (such as file reading and network requests), Node.js delegates the task to the underlying libuv library and immediately responds to other requests. Once the operation is completed, the callback function is placed into the task queue. The event loop is the core scheduler, processing tasks in fixed phases: starting with timer callbacks (Timers), system callbacks (Pending Callbacks), followed by the crucial Poll phase to wait for I/O events, and then handling immediate callbacks (Check) and close callbacks (Close Callbacks). It ensures the ordered execution of asynchronous tasks through the call stack, task queues, and phase-based processing. The efficient design stems from three points: non-blocking I/O avoids CPU waiting, callback scheduling is executed in an ordered manner across phases, and the combination of single-threaded execution with asynchronous concurrency achieves high throughput. Understanding the scheduling logic of the event loop helps developers write more efficient Node.js code.
Read More