Learn how you can take advantage of a Message Broker - Fullstack Web Development - Next JS - Nest JS

Summary

In this video, the speaker explains how to improve performance and scalability in full-stack web applications built with Next.js. While Next.js is suitable for small applications, it may not handle medium to large-scale apps well due to increased complexity in backend logic. The speaker demonstrates how incorporating a backend server (NestJS) and using a message broker (RabbitMQ) can decouple complex operations, reducing response times and improving user experience. The tutorial emphasizes the importance of learning backend systems and message brokers to create production-ready, scalable applications and enhance engineering skills.

Takeaways

• 😀 Next.js is great for small-scale applications but can struggle with performance as the app grows in complexity.
• 😀 Directly embedding complex backend logic into Next.js can increase response times and negatively impact user experience.
• 😀 Basic operations like inserting records into a database for user interactions can quickly become slow when combined with additional logic (e.g., notifications, analytics).
• 😀 As more logic is added to server actions in Next.js, response times can increase significantly, leading to poor user experience (e.g., 200ms to 600ms).
• 😀 To solve performance bottlenecks, consider decoupling complex backend logic and using an asynchronous message broker like RabbitMQ.
• 😀 A message broker (e.g., RabbitMQ) allows for asynchronous task processing, keeping the user experience fast while handling tasks like notifications and analytics in the background.
• 😀 The backend service (e.g., NestJS) interacts with RabbitMQ to process messages, ensuring the main app remains responsive without blocking user actions.
• 😀 Using RabbitMQ, the system queues messages (e.g., like actions, notifications, analytics), and separate services consume them asynchronously, improving scalability.
• 😀 The combination of Next.js for frontend, NestJS for backend, and RabbitMQ for background tasks helps create a production-ready, real-life scale application.
• 😀 Understanding message brokers and asynchronous task handling is crucial for building scalable, efficient web applications as your app grows.
• 😀 Learning technologies like RabbitMQ and NestJS can improve your full-stack development skills and help you build better, faster, and more scalable applications.

Q & A

Why is Next.js not suitable for medium to large-scale production applications?

Next.js is great for small-scale applications, but when it comes to handling complex, production-ready logic like notifications, analytics, and other heavy tasks, it struggles. The performance degrades as more functionality is added, making it less ideal for medium to large-scale apps.

What performance issue was demonstrated when adding more complex logic to a simple like button feature?

When additional logic, such as sending notifications and updating analytics, was added to the 'like' button feature, the response time increased significantly. What initially took 200ms became 600ms, which negatively impacted the user experience.

How does introducing a message broker improve the performance of the web application?

By introducing a message broker like RabbitMQ, the complex backend tasks (like sending notifications and updating analytics) are handled asynchronously. This prevents these tasks from blocking the user’s request-response cycle, keeping the app responsive and improving the overall performance.

What role does RabbitMQ play in the proposed architecture?

RabbitMQ acts as the message broker in the architecture. It receives messages from the backend server (such as 'a post is liked'), holds them in different queues (e.g., analytics, notifications), and then asynchronously processes these tasks using separate microservices, ensuring the user experience remains fast.

Why is it important to separate complex logic from the frontend in production applications?

Separating complex logic from the frontend helps to ensure that the user experience is not negatively impacted by slow or resource-heavy operations. This is particularly important for production applications where performance and scalability are crucial.

What is the main advantage of using a backend server like NestJS in this architecture?

NestJS provides a robust and scalable framework for building full-stack applications. It makes it easier to implement complex backend logic, manage asynchronous operations, and integrate with message brokers like RabbitMQ, improving the overall performance and structure of the app.

How does the use of a message broker help in handling multiple requests to like a post?

The message broker queues up messages for processing by backend services. When multiple users like a post, the backend doesn’t have to process each request immediately. Instead, messages are added to the queue and processed asynchronously, which prevents the app from slowing down due to concurrent requests.

What would happen if a message broker like RabbitMQ wasn’t used in this architecture?

Without a message broker, all the logic (like sending notifications and updating analytics) would have to be processed synchronously with each user request. This could cause significant delays, especially as more users interact with the app, leading to a poor user experience.

What is the typical response time when using the proposed architecture with a message broker?

With the message broker in place, the response time for user actions, like clicking the 'like' button, remains around 200 milliseconds. The backend tasks are handled asynchronously, preventing them from delaying the user experience.

Why should frontend developers learn about backend technologies like NestJS and message brokers?

Frontend developers can benefit from understanding backend technologies because it allows them to design more scalable, efficient applications. By knowing how to work with message brokers and backend services, they can collaborate better with backend teams and create more robust, production-ready applications.