Explain the concept of streams in Node

Streams in Node provide an efficient way to handle data flowing through an application. They allow you to read from or write to a source continuously, processing chunks of data as they become available, without needing to load the entire dataset into memory at once.

What are Streams?

Streams in NodeJS represent a sequence of data that can be read from or written asynchronously. They are used to handle data flow, allowing you to process data in chunks as it is being transmitted, rather than loading it all into memory at once.

Why Use Streams?

Streams offer several advantages, including:

• Memory Efficiency: Streams enable efficient memory usage by processing data in smaller, manageable chunks, which is particularly useful when working with large datasets.
• Performance: Streams can improve application performance by processing data as it arrives, reducing the need for unnecessary memory allocations and I/O operations.
• Pipelining: Streams can be pipelined to create complex data processing pipelines, where the output of one stream is directly connected to the input of another, allowing for modular and reusable code.

How to Use Streams in NodeJS:

NodeJS provides a built-in stream module, which includes various types of streams such as Readable, Writable, Duplex, and Transform. You can create streams using these classes and pipe them together to create data processing pipelines.

const { Readable, Writable } = require('stream');

// Create a Readable stream
const readableStream = new Readable({
  read(size) {
    // Implement the read method
  }
});

// Create a Writable stream
const writableStream = new Writable({
  write(chunk, encoding, callback) {
    // Implement the write method
  }
});

// Pipe the Readable stream to the Writable stream
readableStream.pipe(writableStream);