One of the most crucial decisions in building an enterprise grade digital platform is choosing which technology stack to use. Many factors need to be considered before narrowing down on a set of technologies. Be it popularity, resources, sustainability, security, dependability etc. This process must be tailor suited to your organization and domain needs. During this activity, your team might encounter some roadblocks on narrowing down on one technology when two equally competitive ones are on the table.
Our team at Touchcore Systems recently encountered a similar dilemma: Which back-end technology would suit healthcare enterprise applications? We hope that this article helps you in your decision making process.
We narrowed the choices down to two: .Net and Node.js. Both .Net and Node.js are prominent technologies in the application development domain. We did a detailed analysis of these technologies, comparing various aspects to find the right fit keeping in mind the healthcare domain requirements.
This article highlights the detailed analysis, parameters that were considered and the end conclusion on which backend technology will better suit the needs of healthcare enterprise applications.
What is Node.js?
Node.js is an asynchronous, cross-platform, open-source server environment, designed in 2009 for Linux and macOS. It uses JavaScript on the server. Node.js follows an event-driven approach and can handle multiple requests simultaneously without blocking any of the requests. The reason that Node.js is an efficient and lightweight option is as the code executes on the main thread, Node.js sets off different threads to perform other tasks.
What is .Net?
.Net Core is an asynchronous, cross-platform, general-purpose, open-source web application framework written in C# and C++, developed by Microsoft.
.Net Core 1.0, the initial version of .Net Core was released in 2016. It is the most versatile framework that can be used to develop Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, and Windows applications with .Net. It uses .Net languages like C#, VB.Net,
Applications based on .NET Core technology are standalone and contain the required runtime for execution thus making them platform independent. This feature makes software development for multiple environments much faster and cheaper than traditional methods.
Comparison of .Net Core and Node.js
For each of the different parameters considered, the Platforms are rated on a scale of 10, to give a comparative idea.
1. Performance
It is one of the most crucial factors when deciding on a platform. The processing models of both platforms are very different.
Node.js is known for efficiently handling multiple tasks. The chrome v8 engine gives it an edge over other platforms.
.Net Core performs better than Node.js on tasks that are CPU intensive. Even after many differences in the models of these platforms, the performance difference is not stark and is dependent on the use case.
Rating:
Node.js - 8.5/10
.NET Core - 8.5/10
2. Community Support
Community Support can be an important factor. The community can act as the most viable and easily accessible source of information during development. Both these platforms have a very active community.
Rating:
Node.js - 9.5/10
.NET Core - 9.5/10
3. Module Support / Extensiblity
Module Support for a platform allows you to use different packages depending on the utility. Such modules can help accelerate the development process and are being used widely.
Node.js has an excellent module support. Due to its wider usage worldwide, Node.js gets a slight edge over .Net.
.Net has great support for modules and packages too. The NuGet Package Manager offers a wide variety of packages.
Rating:
Node.js - 10/10
.NET Core - 8/10
4. Security
Security plays a vital role in any technology. Here security refers to the frequency of occurrence of vulnerabilities, the degree of risk, and the time taken to patch each.
Vulnerabilities in Node.js are generally minor. Overall, the occurrence of vulnerabilities is higher than .Net.
In terms of Vulnerabilities, .Net is better than node.js, because even though vulnerabilities arise on the platform from time to time, Microsoft is able to address them faster. No vulnerabilities have been reported in .Net since 2019.
Rating:
Node.js - 8/10
.NET Core - 10/10
5. Domain Suitability
We must consider the basic requirements of any medical web portal such as interoperability, availability, and data visualization before choosing the right technology. We need to ensure that our technology is mature enough to support various third-party integrations to meet the requirements. When it comes to suitability in the healthcare domain, .Net core is ahead of Node.js with its reliability and security.
Rating:
Node.js - 8/10
.NET Core - 10/10
Conclusion
Based on a weighted comparison table created by our team, we concluded that when it comes to enterprise-level healthcare applications, .NET Core is a better choice. With all the advantages of the .NET Core framework discussed above, it’s little wonder that the framework is rapidly growing in popularity as more developers and teams jump on board.
Touchcore Systems is a software development partner for startups and enterprises who want to build a regulatory grade healthcare platforms. To discuss your projects drop a line at partner@touchcoresystems.com
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