Building a TCP Server with Node.js: Unlocking Low-Level Network Control
When we talk about web development with Node.js, the conversation often gravitates towards HTTP servers, REST APIs, and client-server communication over the web. And for good reason – HTTP is the backbone of the modern internet. However, lurking beneath the convenience of HTTP is its foundational layer: TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) . As software engineers, understanding TCP, and more importantly, how to build raw TCP servers in Node.js, unlocks a powerful dimension of network control. TCP is a connection-oriented, reliable, and ordered delivery protocol. It guarantees that data sent from one end will arrive at the other end, in the same order, and without errors or loss. This reliability makes it indispensable for applications where data integrity is paramount, even at the cost of some overhead compared to UDP. Node.js, with its event-driven, non-blocking I/O model, is exceptionally well-suited for building highly concurrent TCP servers. It can manage thousands of simultaneous c...