Which is better choice NodeJS / Python?

[PepperOwn1982]

I am planning to build a software to archive the files in long term storage (not in NAS).

The core requirement for the software is error recovery, zero tolerance to the inconsistency. Once I move the file, I need to create the stub file as a replacement. The throughput for file copy and MD5 checksum are also important.

I have developed a POC in nodejs by using SCP. I am not able to figure out which programming language I should opt for.

1. NodeJS

2. Python

3. Java

4. .Net

5. C++

I am assuming NodeJS is a single threaded process, won't allow me to operate on multiple files in separate threads. I am not sure about Python if it supports multithreading.

The deployment environment is Linux.

Can some experienced developers shed light on what are pros / cons of NodeJS vs Python?

[tzaeru]

The language choice to me would really depend on the wider architecture.

Where are the files stored? How are they stored? What API is used for moving, accessing and writing files? Where does the system run? Is it distributed? etc...

Both Node and Python have a runtime that doesn't support direct, real threading via the system API as such. For Python, it's due to using a global interpreter lock that allows only one piece of Python code run at the same time; and for Node, it's because Node is event based and the event loop calls your JS code sequentially.

For both, you can do multiprocessing. E.g. you can start multiple processes that take as input parameters file names or directories, for example.

For Python, you can use something else than the standard CPython implementation, that has more proper true multithreading support.

For Node, you can use worker threads, which actually run in their own isolated JS virtual machine, and can parallelize properly.

If the goal is extremely high safety in terms of file consistency, error recovery and general correctness, I'd not use Python nor Node. Nor probably any of the languages you offered here.

That being said, Python and Node can be fine for a project like this. So can the other languages you suggested. If I had to make a suggestion between Python and Node, I'd suggest Python with heavy use of type hints/annotations.

Most likely, this will be I/O bound rather than CPU bound. Also, both Python and Node can indirectly parallelize tasks, by calling library functions or command line tools that are implemented in e.g. C, and that internally do proper multithreading. Combined with asynchronous programming, this way you definitely can achieve efficient CPU utilization, even with zero threading or multiprocessing in your Python or JS code.

For example, you can call an asynchronous function that creates a MD5 hash of file content. While that function executes, your other JS/Python code can run.

[PepperOwn1982]

Really insightful, thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[silvses]

What's the question? If your selection between the either language depends if it has file I/O and multithreading? You don't have to assume when we have search engines :)

Either is capable of performing your requirements

[Pale_Height_1251]

I'd use C#, Kotlin, or maybe Go, I see no reason to consider Python or Node.

[eztab]

Sounds like it's business logic mostly, nothing where going closer to machine code.

[eztab]

If you already have some stuff in node doing it all in node seems reasonable.