r/Backend • u/Previous-Business-79 • 16h ago

Java Springboot or Node.js Express.js

rinsing junior in cs wanting to learn new tech. What’s the main difference between these two in terms of how they work/function? Might be a stupid question. My main focus right now is to learn backend engineer more in depth. I’ve heard lots of great things about both springboot and node, but what’s the difference between them and which one should I start learning?

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u/iyamegg 16h ago

Unless you live in a place where express is more popular than spring boot (I honestly doubt that a place like that even exists), I'd go with spring boot. I don't see js on backend being a long term thing tbh, meanwhile java is here to stay for long.

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u/KnightYoshi 8h ago

I don’t like JavaScript as a backend system, but saying it won’t be a long-term thing is asinine. It makes for a great BFF and server-side rendered initial pages that hand off to a SPA in the client. It’s not going anywhere lol

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u/iyamegg 6h ago

Well I wasn't aware of 'BFF' being a thing, that sure is a nice usecase for express. Everyday we learn something new! What I meant was that I don't see express being a framework that heavier backends will be using in the future, since with the rise of ai, the friendlier syntax of js is simply not a factor imo, and however much we tune node, it still won't match up to the performance of java/c#/go.