Node.js JavaScript runtime environment that is asynchronous and builds scalable and fast network applications. This library runs on the Chrome V8 engine and is used to execute Javascript code outside the web browser A open-source, cross-platform, back-end environment, Node lets developers use Javascript for server-side writing and scripting command tools and helps produce content for web pages that are dynamic and interesting. It is lightweight and efficient since it uses an event-driven and non-blocking I/O model. Node.js can run on all the major platforms and OSs including Windows, Mac Os, Linux, etc.
Node.js offers a number of packages and libraries which can be very helpful. It is quite easy to learn and widely used by many developers.
Introduction to Node.js timer
Node.js timer is an in-built module of Node.js with which codes or functions can be executed after a specified period of time. The timer module is a global module so require() is not necessary for importing the methods. There are a few methods in this module with a variety of functions that help developers.
Uses of a few Timer methods
There are two types of timers under which there are methods. These two are scheduling timers that are used to call a code after a certain period and cancelling timers that are used to cancel the timers previously scheduled.
- setImmediate()-
The most commonly used node.js timer method, this method is used to schedule the execution of a callback after the I/O operations of the current events. So, with this method, code is executed once the ongoing event loop cycle is over. If multiple setImmediate functions are queued, they are executed in the order of their creation.
- setTimeout()-
This method is widely used by developers since it provides great benefits. The Timeout method is used to execute code after a specified amount of time. As the first argument, a function is accepted to be executed and the time after which the function will be executed is accepted as the second argument. The number that will be entered as the second argument will be the amount of milliseconds after which the code is executed.
- setInterval()
Another useful Node.js Timer method, setInterval is used to display a code multiple times. The additional technology feature is that the code will be executed each time after a specified time limit. The code to be executed is accepted as the first argument and the interval is accepted as a number for the second argument. This number is the amount of milliseconds between the execution of the code.
- Cancelling timers-
All these are scheduling timers but there are cancelling timers available to correspond with each. These methods are clearImmediate(), clearTimeout(), and clearInterval() which clears the Immediate, Timeout, and Interval objects respectively. Once these methods are passed, the execution of the scheduled objects is completely stopped.
These methods by Node.js Timer can be very useful to developers and experienced professionals often recommend newer developers to utilise them fully.
