WEB DEVELOPMENT USING MEAN STACK

Unit 1 - Introduction to Nodejs

1. What exactly is Node.js?

“Node.js is a JavaScript runtime environment. Sounds great,
but what does that mean? How does that work?”

1. The Node.js run-time environment includes everything you

need to execute a program written in JavaScript.

2. Node.js came into existence when the original developers

of JavaScript extended it from something you could only
run in the browser to something you could run on your
machine as a standalone application.
 3. Now you can do much more with JavaScript than just
making websites interactive. JavaScript now has the
capability to do things that other scripting languages like
Python can do.

4. Both your browser JavaScript and Node.js run on the V8

JavaScript runtime engine. This engine takes your
JavaScript code and converts it into a faster machine code.
Machine code is low-level code which the computer can
run without needing to first interpret it.

2. Why Node.js?

Here’s a formal definition as given on the official Node.js

website
 1. Node.js is a JavaScript runtime built on Chrome’s V8
JavaScript engine.

2. Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that

makes it lightweight and efficient.

3. Node.js’ package ecosystem, npm, is the largest ecosystem

of open source libraries in the world.

Blocking I/O (left) vs Non-Blocking I/O (right)

Consider a scenario where we request a backend database for the details

of user1 and user2 and then print them on the screen/console. The
response to this request takes time, but both of the user data requests can
be carried out independently and at the same time.
In the blocking method, user2's data request is not initiated until user1's
data is printed to the screen.
On the other hand, using a non-blocking request, you can initiate a data
request for user2 without waiting for the response to the request for
user1. You can initiate both requests in parallel.
3. Node.js Architecture and How It Works?
1. Node.js uses the “Single Threaded Event Loop”
architecture to handle multiple clients at the same time. To
understand how this is different from other runtimes, we
need to understand how multi-threaded concurrent clients
are handled in languages like Java.

2. In a multi-threaded request-response model, multiple

clients send a request, and the server processes each one
before sending the response back. However, multiple
threads are used to process concurrent calls. These threads
are defined in a thread pool, and each time a request comes
in, an individual thread is assigned to handle it .

Node.js works differently. Let’s take a look at each step it goes

through:
 1. Node.js maintains a limited thread pool to serve requests.
2. Whenever a request comes, Node.js places it into a queue.
3. Now, the single-threaded “Event loop”—the core
component—comes into the picture. This event loop waits
for requests indefinitely.
4. When a request comes in, the loop picks it up from the
queue and checks whether it requires a blocking
input/output (I/O) operation. If not, it processes the request
and sends a response.
5. If the request has a blocking operation to perform, the event
loop assigns a thread from the internal thread pool to
process the request. There are limited internal threads
available. This group of auxiliary threads is called the
worker group.
6. The event loop tracks blocking requests and places them in
the queue once the blocking task is processed. This is how
it maintains its non-blocking nature.
Since Node.js uses fewer threads, it utilizes fewer
resources/memory, resulting in faster task execution. So for our
purposes, this single-threaded architecture is equivalent to multi-
threaded architecture. When one needs to process data-intensive
tasks, then using multi-threaded languages like Java makes
much more sense. But for real-time applications, Node.js is the
obvious choice.
4. Features of Node.js?
1. Easy—Node.js is quite easy to start with. It’s a go-to
choice for web development beginners. With a lot of
tutorials and a large community—getting started is very
easy.

2. Scalable—It provides vast scalability for applications.

Node.js, being single-threaded, is capable of handling a
huge number of simultaneous connections with high
throughput.

3. Speed—Non-blocking thread execution makes Node.js

even faster and more efficient.

4. Packages—A vast set of open-source Node.js packages is

available that can simplify your work. There are more than
one million packages in the NPM ecosystem today.

5. Strong backend—Node.js is written in C and C++, which

makes it speedy and adds features like networking support.

6. Multi-platform—Cross-platform support allows you to

create SaaS websites, desktop apps, and even mobile
apps, all using Node.js.

7. Maintainable—Node.js is an easy choice for developers

since both the frontend and backend can be managed with
JavaScript as a single language.
5. Applications of Node.js?

Node.js is used for a wide variety of applications. Let’s explore

some popular use cases where Node.js is a good choice:

1. Real-time chats—Due to its single-threaded asynchronous

nature, Node.js is well-suited to processing real-time
communication. It can easily scale and is often used in
building chatbots. Node.js also makes it simple to build
additional chat features like multi-person chat and push
notifications.
2. Internet of Things—IoT applications usually comprise
multiple sensors, as they frequently send small chunks of
data that can pile into a large number of requests. Node.js is
a good choice since it’s able to handle these concurrent
requests quickly.

3. Data streaming—Companies like Netflix use Node.js for

streaming purposes. This is mainly due to Node.js being
lightweight and fast, besides which Node.js provides a
native streaming API. These streams allow users to pipe
requests to each other, resulting in data being streamed
directly to its final destination.

4. Complex single-page applications (SPAs)—In SPAs, the

whole application is loaded in a single page. This usually
means there are a couple of requests made in the
background for specific components. Node.js’s event loop
comes to the rescue here, as it processes requests in a non-
blocking fashion.

5. REST API-based applications—JavaScript is used both

in the frontend and backend of sites. Thus, a server can
easily communicate with the frontend via REST APIs using
Node.js. Node.js also provides packages like Express.js and
Koa that make it even easier to build web applications.
6. Node js Modules?
Modules are like JavaScript libraries that can be used in a
Node.js application to include a set of functions. Node.js has a
set of built-in modules which you can use without any further
installation.
7. Types of node modules
There are three types of node modules:
1. Core Modules
2. User-defined Modules
3. Node Package Manager

1- Core Modules: The modules which are in-built and can be

used without any installation. You can use the core modules just
by installing node’s.

2- User-defined Modules: As the name suggests, a user-

defined, basically these are the modules that are created by you
so that you can reuse them in a node’s application.

3- Node Package Manager: Node Package Manager (NPM) is

a directory where the other developers develop the module and
publish it. There are thousands of packages available on NPM’s
official site. You can use any packages just by installing them.
8. Syntax to import a node module?
We can import a node module in two ways:

1. by using a require keyword

2. using import keyword

9. Out of 30+ prebuilt (core modules), the most
used modules are?

1. fs (file system) → It handles the file systems, using

this module you can create, read, and open files, etc.
2. path → This module is used to handle the path
system.
3. buffer → It is used to handle the binary data
4. http → It is a mostly used module that makes
NodeJS, an http server. Using this module, we will
create a server to print the message.
5. url → It parses the url string
6. util → Used to handle the utility function in NodeJS
Last but not least,
7. OS → handles the Operating System Information.
10. File System Module?
The file system is a method of retrieving and organizing files
from a storage device. Basically, the file system module is used
to create, read, update or delete a file.
The file system module is a core module in NodeJS. And, it is
used to perform various tasks on the files. Since this is a prebuilt
module, there is no need to install it. Just import it to use this
module.

In the file system module, there are various operations can be

performed. We’ll explain each one by one with the help of an
example.
The following(s) are the operations in the File System in Node:
1. Open
2. Get
3. Write
4. Read
5. Append
6. Rename
7. Delete
3. Write
This method is used to write the data into the specified file. You
can write the data using two methods both synchronously and
asynchronously.
Read Files
The fs.readFile () method is used to read files on your computer.

Delete Files
To delete a file with the File System module, use the fs.unlink()
method.

Rename Files
To rename a file with the File System module, use the
fs.rename() method.
11. Json data?
JSON means JavaScript Object Notation. JSON is an open standard
lightweight format for data interchange. JSON is a format for storing
and transporting data consisting of comma-separated attribute-value
pairs and array data types. JSON is commonly used to send the
information from a server to a web page.

12. Basic Constructs of json?

 There four basic and built-in data types in JSON. They are strings,
numbers, Booleans (i.e. true and false) and null. Besides, there are
two data types which are structured - objects and arrays.

 Objects are wrapped within '{' and '}'. Arrays are enclosed by '['
and ']'. Objects are a list of label-value pairs. Arrays are list of
values.
 Both objects and arrays can be nested.

 Strings, numbers, Booleans (i.e true and false) and null can be used
as values.
13. Http Server and Client?
A Web Server is a software application which handles HTTP requests
sent by the HTTP client, like web browsers, and returns web pages in
response to the clients. Web servers usually deliver html documents
along with images, style sheets, and scripts.
Most of the web servers support server-side scripts, using scripting
languages or redirecting the task to an application server which retrieves
data from a database and performs complex logic and then sends a result
to the HTTP client through the Web server.
Web Application Architecture
A Web application is usually divided into four layers −

Client − This layer consists of web browsers, mobile browsers or

applications which can make HTTP requests to the web server.

Server − This layer has the Web server which can intercept the requests
made by the clients and pass them the response.

Business − This layer contains the application server which is utilized

by the web server to do the required processing. This layer interacts with
the data layer via the database or some external programs.

Data − This layer contains the databases or any other source of data.
14. Error Handling in Nodejs?
Node.js applications experience four types of errors.

Errors in Node.js are handled through exceptions. For example,

let's handle the error that would occur when we divide a number
by zero. This error would crash the Node.js application, so we
should handle this error to continue with the normal execution of
the application.
15. Callback function?
To explain what the Callback is, let's see a situation as follows:

“You come to a shop to buy a something you like. The shop

staff tells you that the item is out of stock now. You leave the
phone number and ask them to call back immediately after the
goods is available. Then you can go out or do a job and do not
need to care about the shop anymore, until you get a phone call
notifying of the item asked by you from the shop.”
NodeJS server can receive many requests from many users.
Therefore to improve serviceability, all APIs of the NodeJS are
designed to support Callback. The "callback" is a function that
will be called when the NodeJs completes a specific task.
Callback functions help us in the situation where, the function
may accept some Param’s and it may return a result after some
time, not immediately. For example, when we call external third
API services, these APIs may take some time to return the data.
For handling this kind of situation the JavaScript provide the
callback function approach to manage this problem easily.

16. Asynchronous programming in Node.js?

1. Asynchronous programming is a design pattern which
ensures the non-blocking code execution.

2. Asynchronous I/O is a form of input/output processing that

permits other processing to continue before the
transmission has finished.
17. REST API’s(GET, POST, PUT, DELETE
,UPDATE)?
REST API stands for REpresentational State Transfer , which
defines a set of principles on how Web standards are supposed
to be used. This is a very common standards that a huge
majority of the web / mobile applications run on.
The goals of REST are:
 Generality interfaces
 Reduce latency and thus improve performance
 Scalability of interactions between components
 Reliable
To work with REST API efficiently, It’s important to know the
basic HTTP methods and what each of them does. Out of 39 http
methods, developers typically use the "GET", "POST",
"PUT", "PATCH" and "DELETE" methods.
Now, I will be showing you the difference between the 5
methods mentioned above and when to use them.
18. GraphQL?
 GraphQL is a query language and server-side runtime for
application programming interfaces (APIs) that prioritizes
giving clients exactly the data they request and no more.
 GraphQL is designed to make APIs fast, flexible, and
developer-friendly.
 GraphQL was developed by Facebook, which first began
using it for mobile applications in 2012. The GraphQL
specification was open sourced in 2015. It is now overseen
by the GraphQL Foundation.
 The most common GraphQL operations are likely to be
queries, schema, and mutations. If we were to think about
them in terms of create, read, update and delete (CRUD)
model, a query would be equivalent to read. All the others
(create, update, and delete) are handled by mutations.
19. Promises?
Promise is a good way to handle asynchronous operations. It is
used to find out if the asynchronous operation is successfully
completed or not.
A promise may have one of three states.
 Pending
 Fulfilled
 Rejected
A promise starts in a pending state. That means the process is
not complete. If the operation is successful, the process ends in a
fulfilled state. And, if an error occurs, the process ends in a
rejected state.
For example, when you request data from the server by using a
promise, it will be in a pending state. When the data arrives
successfully, it will be in a fulfilled state. If an error occurs, then
it will be in a rejected state.
20. Promise Chaining?
Promises are useful when you have to handle more than one
asynchronous task, one after another. For that, we use promise
chaining. You can perform an operation after a promise is
resolved using methods then(), catch() and finally().

JavaScript Promise versus Callback?

Promises are similar to callback functions in a sense that they
both can be used to handle asynchronous tasks. JavaScript
callback functions can also be used to perform synchronous
tasks.
JavaScript Promise
 The syntax is user-friendly and easy to read.
 Error handling is easier to manage.
 JavaScript Callback
 The syntax is difficult to understand.
 Error handling may be hard to manage.

JavaScript Promise Methods?

Introduction to template engine (EJS)?

 EJS or Embedded Javascript Templating is a templating
engine used by Node.js. Template engine helps to create an
HTML template with minimal code. Also, it can inject data
into HTML template at the client side and produce the final
HTML.
 EJS is a simple templating language which is used to
generate HTML markup with plain JavaScript.
  EJS is very simple, light and fast. It allow us to create
HTML Markup with Plain JavaScript. Using EJS as
templating engine we need to install EJS

EJS Features?
 Very Simple Syntax
 Use Plain JavaScript
 Very Fast Compilation and Execution
 Compiles with Express View system
 Caching for template and intermediate JavaScript
 Includes feature available
 Easy Debugging