Web Development with Node and Express: Leveraging the JavaScript Stack

I liked the way I could follow along in the development cycle to get where the author wanted the reader to go. I read word for word the first 12 or so chapters building the whole project in some cases from scratch and in some just copying the GitHub copies so I did not have to type everything. But I ended up with a project I modeled my live project from. Somewhere after the 12th Chapter I was just reading for understanding since the database used was not my preference. I found a lot of the information parted in the later chapters to be helpful references for things I was doing live and did do a few months later. When I ran into understanding issues on the use of the promises and how they really work I found the additional insights that I was able to get from Ethan helped me to understand more fully how the whole synchronous verses async processes really worked in software. I was aware of this on the hardware level but not on the software, As an electrical engineer I have always known how async processes do not easily mix with synchronous. I have to admit that the added help I got from the Author via email enlightened me in this area. So if anything I would say that it should be a little additional chapter to the book in the next edition if there is one. But not necessary as the book as it is is a very good instructional text for hands on folks.like me. The only thing needing some more refinement, I think, was the hand-off to Single page and React. I enjoyed this part of the book but I could not bring my project along to do the same thing the author had done with his. I think it was because at that point I was pretty much committed to all of the items that I was using in Express and did not want to let them go in the name of progress. I have since been delving into React and Restful just to understand what all of the hyp is about. The bottom line is that the experience I got from the author's book propelled me thoroughly into the wonders of the node.js world.

This is one of the best technical books I have ever read. The author explains everything in plain English and does a great job of explaining why he chooses a specific option when faced with multiple choices (for example, his choice of handlebars for templating). If you are already familiar with JavaScript and want to learn how to build Web Apps with Express, this is an excellent starting point.

This book gives a high level overview of full stack web development. But it also contains some helpful guidance on many software engineering topics, like debugging and deployment. Smooth, easy to folow explanation. Wish it had more indepth coverage of API development with Express. But I highly recommend it.

THIS BOOK IS THE BEST NODE/EXPRESS BOOK I HAVE USED AND I HAVE USED PRETTY MUCH ALL OF THEM. A MUST HAVE RESOURCE OR REFERENCE IN YOUR LIBRARY!! I felt compelled to write a review because I read some of the other feedback and it is clear that the those who wrote them are extreme beginners, who couldn't appreciate how excellent this book is yet. I first found this book after multiple courses on Node and it really does an OUTSTANDING job of laying everything out and making everything come together in a way that makes sense. The code examples in Github are excellent. I even refactored the Meadowlark example a few times for apps and it was great. Sometimes I need a specific bit of code and I just go to the repo for it because the chapters are laid out well into different functional pieces. The author, Ethan Brown, practically lays everything out because he is a practitioner himself and I think he does an excellent job of laying out details that you won't pick up in a bootcamp or other books. For example, I love that he lays out all the req. and res. methods in a list format; 99% of those who just completed a bootcamp will not have that complete understanding. After I read this book, I had a much more complete understanding of Node and Express. I consider myself pretty experienced now, and I still go back to it as a reference from time to time. This book is #1 in my top 3 Node and Express books. I consider it a MUST HAVE for those who want a full understanding. I completely marked up the first edition with notes (picture attached) and I bought the second edition because there were some new additions. Ethan focuses on Handlebars, I hope the a next edition adds EJS. AGAIN MUST HAVE RESOURCE OR REFERENCE IN YOUR LIBRARY!!

I have two books on Node & Express. This one has better code example layout and also goes into greater detail. My other book didn't even cover middleware or other important topics of Express. I would highly recommend this book over Get Programming with Node.js by Jonathan Wexler.

- Code on Githut doesn’t match that in the book. - Not enough explanations for the code, especially big chunks is code

This is a good book. It pretty much assumes you already understand how Node works, so dives right into Express. It starts at the basics, and methodically works its way up to cover everything you really need to know. It does a nice job of providing helpful code examples and use case scenarios to tie it all together, and the writing is clear and easy for any mid-level JS developer to understand. My only complaints are that the last 1/4 of the book is almost entirely general Node stuff, rather than being Express-specific (ex: a chapter on SPAs, Node debugging, using 3rd APIs (like twitter), best practices for maintenance, etc.). That's nice, but it comes at the expense of having more detailed examples of real-world Express code and use cases. By contrast to the above, things that are lacking: - Using multiple Express.Router instances to divide routes into more manageable modules is almost entirely undiscussed - There is barely any example implementation or detail of an actual API implemented in Express - Authentication is pretty well covered, but Authorization routing approaches (RBAC/ABAC) are barely discussed. - More depth on writing custom middleware would have been nice (patterns, gotchas, best practices, etc.) My other big complaint is that ES6 Module syntax isn't touched on _at_all_ as it relates to Express. All the code in the whole book uses the CommonJS ( require(...) ) syntax. That's great, but a book printed in 2020 should cover ES6 Modules. (Note: He _does_ use ES6 in the SPA chapter, which has several JSX code samples, but he never actually mentions this difference or acknowledges that ES6 Modules can work in Node as well). Since all my complaints are about things that are missing, I still give it 4 stars. What this book does cover is solid, detailed, and easy to understand. This book is worth reading for anyone wanting to learn or brush up on Express.

This book covers many topics at a superficial level, but none in depth. The problem with that is that if you read the book as an introduction when you have no knowledge, then you won't really comprehend what the topics being introduced are about - you need to experience them for them to start to make sense. But when you experience the concepts whilst developing - either as you recognise there is a gap in your knowledge about how to achieve a certain aim, or you are resolving an issue - then there is no point turning to this book as it doesn't contain the detail you will need and you will need to go searching the web. For me, this is a well-written (i.e. clear language and structure) but entirely pointless book.