How does streams API work internally in JavaScript?

The Streams API in JavaScript is a powerful feature that allows you to work with data streams that can be processed incrementally. It is particularly useful for handling large data sets and real-time data processing. The Streams API provides a way to read and write data as it is being transmitted, without needing to load the entire data set into memory. This is accomplished through a combination of readable and writable streams.

Internally, the Streams API utilizes several key components:

  • Readable Streams: These allow you to read data from a source. Data is fetched in small chunks, which enables efficient memory usage.
  • Writable Streams: These allow you to write data to a destination. You write data in chunks as well, which means you can start processing the data before the entire write operation is complete.
  • Duplex Streams: These streams can read and write, providing a two-way flow of data.
  • Transform Streams: These are duplex streams that can modify or transform the data as it is written or read.

Here's a simple example of how you might use the Streams API to read from a readable stream and write to a writable stream:

const { Readable, Writable } = require('stream'); const readableStream = new Readable({ read(size) { // Implement the logic to push data into the stream this.push('Some data chunk'); this.push(null); // No more data } }); const writableStream = new Writable({ write(chunk, encoding, callback) { console.log(`Writing: ${chunk}`); callback(); // Signal that the chunk is processed } }); readableStream.pipe(writableStream); // Pipe data from readable to writable

Streams API JavaScript memory management data processing readable streams writable streams