Welcome to the Node.js backend development guide! This tutorial will walk you through setting up a basic server, handling routes, and integrating with databases using Node.js. Let's dive in!

1. Getting Started 📚

Node.js is a powerful runtime environment for building server-side applications. To begin, ensure you have Node.js installed. If you're new to Node.js, check out our Node.js Basics Tutorial for a beginner-friendly overview.

Node_js

2. Setting Up a Server 🧱

Create a new directory and initialize a Node.js project:

mkdir my-backend
cd my-backend
npm init -y

Install Express.js, a popular framework for Node.js:

npm install express

3. Basic Concepts 🧠

  • HTTP Methods: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE
  • Routing: Define endpoints using app.get() or app.post()
  • Middleware: Functions that execute between requests and responses
  • Templating: Use res.render() to serve HTML templates

4. Example Code 💻

Here's a simple server setup:

const express = require('express');
const app = express();

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Hello from Node.js backend!');
});

app.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log('Server is running on port 3000');
});

5. Advanced Topics 🔧

Explore these extensions:

Express_js

6. Best Practices 📌

  • Use async/await for asynchronous operations
  • Implement error handling with middleware
  • Keep your code modular and testable
  • Monitor performance with tools like express-rate-limit

7. Related Resources 📚

Node_js_Express