IIS/ASP.Net vs NodeJs/ExpressJS

Question

I'm very new to NodeJs/expressJs, i read tons of articles on internet and still don't understand it

is NodeJs a web server like IIS? if so can i host an asp.net app in NodeJS?

Is expressJs a framework like ASP.NET?

Answer 1

I currently work on both IIS ASP.NET applications as well as NodeJS/ExpressJS systems and the below is what I have noted to be different:

IIS:

• Windows server based
• Can have strict setups such as MVC etc
• Built in deployment that compiles the entire website
• Setup can take quite some time to create all modals and get all plugins working etc
• Services can take some time setup and modal mapping can be tedious

NodeJS/ExpressJS:

• Not Windows based. I run this typically on an Ubuntu server with Nginx to push the domain to the public
• Easy to setup and fast to get something basic online
• Does not natively compile and runs files as they are
• Uses npm package manager with easy to install packages
• Does not have strict setups but you can technically create your own MVC style system
• Code can quickly become messy however with the correct approach you can manage the amount of code easily.

NodeJS is not a web server. It is a backend server (Such as a REST API etc) ExpressJS sits ontop of NodeJS to add functionality and is essentially a framework. Coupled with jade/pug you can write js inside the html.