Assess which version of Node to build project with

[harley-harris]

What?

To create a secure and maintainable service, an appropriate version of Node.js needs to be selected.

Why?

It is important to choose an appropriate version of Node. The choice needs be fairly recent so it supports newer features / APIs, has update to date security, good performance and will be supported for a fair amount of time. https://nodejs.dev/en/about/releases/

Acceptance Criteria?

List some pros and cons of using various version of Node and choose a version of Node to build the project with.

[harley-harris]

Node.js 18:

Pros:

• Is in active long-term support phase
• Improved performance and stability over previous versions
• Better performance and new language features
• Improved support for JavaScript modules
• Includes new features such as native support for bigint, new crypto APIs, and improved HTTP/2 support.

Cons:

Node.js 16

Pros:

• Stable and widely used release with good support and compatibility with many popular packages and libraries

Cons:

• The long-term support will be ending fairly soon (~Sept 2023)
• Some newer features and improvements in Node.js 18 are not available in version 16
• Some legacy APIs may be deprecated or removed in future releases

Overall, I think the clear choice is using Node 18 as Node 16s long term support will be ending quite soon. Node 19 and 20 are still quite new and could pose teething problems.