The Reanimated Renaissance, C-Speed Compression, and JSON-Loving LLMs
A wise monk once told me a line of JavaScript speaks a thousand words, but when that JavaScript calls a node module, it’s practically poetry. Enter Node-API, the JavaScript-world rockstar from Node.js, now crashing React Native’s party thanks to @callstackio and @Microsoft.
You can grab npm modules like @julusian/jpeg-turbo, which binds the C-based libjpeg-turbo library for screaming-fast image compression, and drop them into your app, no C degree required. Builds that took longer than it takes to get your next Tinder match could shrink to ~7 seconds with Node-API’s prebuilt modules, per @callstackio tests, since prebuilt modules skip the “Xcode, why?” compilation slog.
Imagine your photo app’s JavaScript choking on a 10MB selfie? Install @julusian/jpeg-turbo directly into React Native and shrink it:
That module’s C-speed zips images on iOS, Android, and works in your Node.js server too. Plus, npm’s treasure trove of Node-API modules means you’re not reinventing the wheel for heavy tasks like AI filters or encryption. So, why pick Node-API over Turbo Modules? Turbo Modules shine for React Native-specific tasks like UI components or platform APIs (think camera or GPS), tightly integrated with JSI for top performance.
