Node.js in Practice (2015)
Preface
When Node.js arrived in 2009, we knew something was different. JavaScript on the server wasn’t anything new. In fact, server-side JavaScript has existed almost as long as client-side JavaScript. With Node, the speed of the JavaScript runtimes, coupled with the event-based parallelism that many JavaScript programmers were already familiar with, were indeed compelling. And not just for client-side JavaScript developers, which was our background—Node attracted developers from the systems level to various server-side backgrounds, PHP to Ruby to Java. We all found ourselves inside this movement.
At that time, Node was changing a lot, but we stuck with it and learned a whole lot in the process. From the start, Node focused on making a small, low-level core library that would provide enough functionality for a large, diverse user space to grow. Thankfully, this large and diverse user space exists today because of these design decisions early on. Node is a lot more stable now and used in production for numerous startups as well as established enterprises.
When Manning approached us about writing an intermediate-level book on Node, we looked at the lessons we had learned as well as common pitfalls and struggles we saw in the Node community. Although we loved the huge number of truly excellent third-party modules available to developers, we noticed many developers were getting less and less education on the core foundations of Node. So we set out to write Node in Practice to journey into the roots and foundations of Node in a deep and thorough manner, as well as tackle many issues we personally have faced and have seen others wrestle with.
About this Book
Node.js in Practice exists to provide readers a deeper understanding of Node’s core modules and packaging system. We believe this is foundational to being a productive and confident Node developer. Unfortunately, this small core is easily missed for the huge and vibrant third-party ecosystem with modules prebuilt for almost any task. In this book we go beyond regurgitating the official Node documentation in order to get practical and thorough. We want the reader to be able to dissect the inner workings of the third-party modules they include as well as the projects they write.
This book is not an entry-level Node book. For that, we recommend reading Manning’s Node.js In Action. This book is targeted at readers who already have experience working with Node and are looking to take it up a notch. Intermediate knowledge of JavaScript is recommended. Familiarity with the Windows, OS X, or Linux command line is also recommended.
In addition, we’re aware that many Node developers have come from a client-side JavaScript background. For that reason, we spend some time explaining less-familiar concepts such as working with binary data, how underlying networking and file systems work, and interacting with the host operating system—all using Node as a teaching guide.
Chapter roadmap
This book is organized into three parts.
Part 1 covers Node’s core fundamentals, where we focus our attention on what’s possible using only Node’s core modules (no third-party modules). Chapter 1 recaps Node.js’s purpose and function. Then chapters 2 through 8 each cover in depth a different core aspect of Node from buffers to streams, networking to child processes.
Part 2 focuses on real-world development recipes. Chapters 9 through 12 will help you master four highly applicable skills—testing, web development, debugging, and running Node in production. In addition to Node core modules, these sections include the use of various third-party modules.
Part 3 guides you through creating your own Node modules in a straightforward manner that ties in all kinds of ways to use npm commands for packaging, running, testing, benchmarking, and sharing modules. It also includes helpful tips on versioning projects effectively.
There are 115 techniques in the book, each module covering a specific Node.js topic or task, and each divided into practical Problem/Solution/Discussion sections.
Code conventions and downloads
All source code in the book is in a fixed-width font like this, which sets it off from the surrounding text. In many listings, the code is annotated to point out the key concepts, and numbered bullets are sometimes used in the text to provide additional information about the code.
This book’s coding style is based on the Google JavaScript Style Guide.[1] That means we’ve put var statements on their own lines, used camelCase to format function and variable names, and we always use semicolons. Our style is a composite of the various JavaScript styles used in the Node community.
1 https://google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/javascriptguide.xml
Most of the code shown in the book can be found in various forms in the sample source code that accompanies it. The sample code can be downloaded free of charge from the Manning website at www.manning.com/Node.jsinPractice, as well as from GitHub at the following link:https://github.com/alexyoung/nodeinpractice.