Learning Node, 2nd Edition

Chapter 10. Full-Stack Node Development

Most of this book focuses on the core modules and functionality that make up Node. I’ve tried to avoid covering third-party modules because Node is still a very dynamic environment and support for the third-party modules can change quickly and drastically.

But I don’t think you can cover Node without at least briefly mentioning the wider context of Node applications, which means you need to be familiar with full-stack Node development. This means being familiar with data systems, APIs, client-side development—a whole range of technologies with only one commonality: Node.

The most common form of full-stack development with Node is MEAN—MongoDB, Express, AngularJS, and Node. However, full-stack development can encompass other tools, such as MySQL or Redis for database development, and other client-side frameworks in addition to AngularJS. The use of Express, though, has become ubiquitous. You have to become familiar with Express if you’re going to work with Node.

Further Explorations of MEAN

For additional explorations of MEAN, full-stack development, and Express, I recommend Web Development with Node and Express: Leveraging the JavaScript Stack (O’Reilly, 2014), by Ethan Brown; AngularJS: Up and Running (O’Reilly, 2014), by Shyam Seshadri and Brad Green; and the video Architecture of the MEAN Stack (O’Reilly, 2015), by Scott Davis.

The Express Application Framework

In Chapter 5, I covered a small subset of the functionality you need to ...