The first edition of Node.js in Action was about web development with a particular focus on the Connect and Express web frameworks. Node.js in Action, Second Edition has been updated to suit the changing requirements of Node development. You’ll learn about front-end build systems, popular Node web frameworks, and how to build a web application with Express from scratch. You’ll also learn how to create automated tests and deploy Node web applications.

Node is being increasingly used for command-line developer tools and desktop applications with Electron, so you’ll find chapters dedicated to both of these areas.

This book assumes you’re familiar with basic programming concepts. The first chapter provides an overview of JavaScript and ES2015 for those of you who haven’t yet discovered the joys of modern JavaScript.

Roadmap

This book is organized into three parts.

Part 1 provides an introduction to Node.js, teaching the fundamental techniques needed to develop with it. Chapter 1 explains the characteristics of JavaScript and Node and steps through example code. Chapter 2 guides you through fundamental Node.js programming concepts. Chapter 3 is a full tutorial on how to build a web application from scratch.

Part 2, the largest section of the book, focuses on web application development. Chapter 4 dispels some of the mystery around front-end build systems: if you’ve ever had to use webpack or Gulp in a project but didn’t really understand it, this is the chapter for you. Chapter 5 reviews some of the most popular server-side frameworks available for Node, and chapter 6 goes into Connect and Express in more depth. Chapter 7 is dedicated to templating languages, which can improve your productivity when writing server-side code. Most web applications need a database, so chapter 8 covers the many types of databases that you can use with Node, from relational to NoSQL. Chapters 9 and 10 deal with testing and deployment, and this includes cloud deployment.

Part 3 goes beyond web application development. Chapter 11 is about building command-line applications with Node so you can create developer-friendly text interfaces. If you’re excited about the prospect of building desktop apps such as Atom with Node, then take a look at chapter 12, which is all about Electron.