Can you run NodeJs parallelly in a single-core CPU?

Question

I know that a single-core CPU (typically) will be able to have 2 threads running. So does this means you can have NodeJs running parallelly in a single-core CPU?

Answer 1

First off, nodejs only runs your Javascript in a single thread, regardless of how many CPUs there are (assuming there are no WorkerThreads being used). It may use some other threads internally for the implementation of some library functions (like file operations or asynchronous crypto operations). But, it only ever uses a single thread/CPU to execute your Javascript instructions.

So does this means you can have NodeJs running parallelly in a single-core CPU?

That depends upon what you mean by "parallelly".

Your operating system supports lots of threads, even with only a single CPU. But, when you only have a single CPU, those threads get time-sliced across the single CPU such that none of them are ever actually running at the same time.

One thread gets to run for a short time, then the OS suspends that thread, context switches to another thread, runs it for a short time, suspends that thread, context switches to another thread and so on.

So, the one CPU is "shared" among multiple threads, but no each thread is still running one at a time (typically for short periods of time).

The more CPUs you have, the more threads can run simultaneously where there is true parallel execution.

This is all managed by the OS, independent of nodejs or any particular app running on the computer. Also, please be aware that a typical modern OS has a lot of services running in the OS. Each of these services may also have their own threads that needs to use the CPU from time to time in order to keep the OS and its services running properly. For example, you might be doing a file system backup while typing into your word processor, while running a nodejs app. That can all happen on a single CPU by just sharing it between the different threads that all want to have some cycles. Apps or services that need lots of CPU to do their job will run more slowly when a single CPU is being shared among a bunch of different uses, but they will all still proceed via the time-slicing.

Time-slicing on a single CPU will give the appearance of parallel execution because multiple threads can appear to be making progress, but in reality, one thread may run for a few milliseconds, then the OS switches over to another thread which runs for a few milliseconds and so on. Tasks get done in parallel (at a somewhat slower rate) even though both tasks are never actually using the CPU at exactly the same moment.