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Add to SafariWhen comparing Express.js vs AIDA/web, the Slant community recommends Express.js for most people. In the question“What are the best backend web frameworks?” Express.js is ranked 3rd while AIDA/web is ranked 47th. The most important reason people chose Express.js is:
Setting up a new Express project is very easy. It consists of installing a handful of libraries through NPM run a single `npm install` and everything is ready to go.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Setting up is very easy
Setting up a new Express project is very easy. It consists of installing a handful of libraries through NPM run a single npm install and everything is ready to go.
Pro Great routing API
Express' extremely powerful routing API allows developers to do tasks ranging from building a REST API to building the routes for a simple web app and then take it to the next level by using route parameters and query strings.
Pro Great for beginner Node.js programmers
With a little learning curve, it is a good choice for new NodeJS developers to get started quickly. Express boasts great, thorough documentation.
Pro Express.js is in the Node.js Foundation Incubator Program
Node.js Foundation
Announcement here
The Node.js Foundation is a Collaborative Project at The Linux Foundation. Linux Foundation Collaborative Projects are independently funded software projects that harness the power of collaborative development to fuel innovation across industries and ecosystems.
Pro Relatively mature
Being a somewhat old Node.js web app framework and being one of the most widely used frameworks, Express.js has matured quite a lot during all that time. It's more stable than its competitors and a huge community backing it.
Pro Support for a lot of plugins
Express takes advantage of Node's NPM to distribute and install countless plugins made by third parties which solve almost anything a developer would want to do with Express.
Pro Has the largest userbase
It's by far the most popular framework for node.
Pro Great supportive community
Express has a big community with a lot of guides and tutorials written about it by developers that have been using it for quite some time.
Pro Good Oauth/Facebook integration with connect module
You can easily add oAuth integration/social logins to your next web app without much hassle, using this authentication middleware for connect.
Pro Has detailed information
Very simple and fast.
Pro Lightweight
Pro Massive ecosystem of middleware
If you have not already checked out the Express.js ecosystem of middleware, you should.
Pro Conceptually simple, yet complete
Most frameworks seem to tend towards conceptually simple, but also stripped down (such as Python's Flask), or go the other way and be very fully featured, yet complex. AIDA/web, however, manages to give a programmer a lot of expressive power, while remaining conceptually simple -- an afternoon will get you building websites, and you'll feel comfortable with AIDA/web in just a week or so.
Pro Smalltalk
Program your web app in Smalltalk, an enjoyable and easy language to use. Smalltalk was the language to inspire modern Object-Oriented programming and pioneered many of the programming concepts used today, such as MVC.
Cons
Con No single recommended way of doing something
Express considers itself to be a "minimalistic unopinionated framework", it basically lets the developer determine how their project will be organized. On one hand, this gives anyone terrific power and flexibility to use any library they want for a certain task and to organize their project structure however they want. But on the other hand, there's no single recommended way of organizing things, which can be a trap for beginners and experienced developers alike and result in unmaintainable projects.
Con Relatively inactive
At the time of this writing, AIDA/web is 26 years old (first created in 1996). While maintaining pace with modern technologies (REST, Javascript, etc.), the community is small. You might find it difficult to find timely help, find resources and tutorials, etc.
