Member-only story
Pro Node.js Concepts: Part 5
Scaling with Child Processes, Web Workers, and Efficient Logging
The Orchestra of Processes
Think of a Node.js application as a one-man band. It’s great at handling multiple tasks — playing the drums, guitar, and even singing all at once. But sometimes, you need more hands (or musicians) to perform complex pieces in perfect harmony. This is where child processes and web workers come into play — they allow your Node.js app to scale and handle heavy workloads without being overwhelmed.
Just like how an orchestra divides the music into sections — strings, woodwinds, percussion — to perform together, Node.js can divide tasks among child processes and workers to maximize performance. Let’s dive in!
1. Scaling with Child Processes
Node.js is single-threaded by design, which can be a limitation when you need to handle CPU-intensive operations. Fortunately, you can scale your app by using child processes. Child processes allow you to run multiple Node.js instances that work in parallel, spreading the load and improving performance for heavy tasks like data processing, image manipulation, or video encoding.
