What this book covers

Chapter 1, Why Node.js?, introduces Node.js as a programming platform. It covers the execution model of Node.js, particularly how it differs from .NET and Java, and the use cases in which these differences become strengths. This chapter also discusses the suitability of JavaScript as a development language.

Chapter 2, Getting Started with Node.js, dives straight into creating a Node.js application. In this chapter, you will install Node.js, choose a code editor, and set up a minimal web application project. You'll also learn some important command-line tools for working with Node.js.

Chapter 3, A JavaScript Primer, introduces the most important things to know when programming in JavaScript. It describes the JavaScript type system and its particular flavor of functional object-oriented programming, including prototype-based inheritance. This chapter also covers a few key gotchas and JavaScript language quirks.

Chapter 4, Introducing Node.js Modules, explains how to structure JavaScript applications using modules. It introduces the Node.js module system and shows you how to use this to organise your application's code.

Chapter 5, Creating Dynamic Websites, expands on the examples from the previous chapter to build a functioning web application. You'll add a JSON API and dynamic views to your application and communicate between the client and server using Ajax.

Chapter 6, Testing Node.js Applications, shows you how to write automated tests in JavaScript and Node.js. It introduces a number of tools and libraries for writing and running tests in JavaScript, and guides you through writing a variety of unit tests and integration tests for your application.

Chapter 7, Setting up an Automated Build, covers build automation and continuous integration in Node.js. You'll set up a CI server and task runner for your application, adding automated tasks to run tests, execute static analysis, and assess code coverage.

Chapter 8, Mastering Asynchronicity, introduces different patterns for asynchronous programming in JavaScript. You'll apply these to your own application and make the most of JavaScript language features and libraries for simplifying asynchronous code.

Chapter 9, Persisting Data, explains persistent data stores that can be used with Node.js. It introduces MongoDB and Redis, explaining their different data models and their use cases. You'll integrate both of these data stores with your Node.js application.

Chapter 10, Creating Real-time Web Apps, shows how to implement real-time two-way communication between the client and the server. You'll use the Socket.IO library to add real-time functionality into your application. You'll also see how to write tests for this functionality and how to write scalable real-time applications using Redis as a backend.

Chapter 11, Deploying Node.js Applications, demonstrates how to get a Node.js application onto the Web. You'll deploy your application to a free cloud-hosting provider. You'll see how to configure data stores and how to use remote server logs for debugging.

Chapter 12, Authentication in Node.js, covers authentication for Node.js web applications. You'll implement authentication using third-party providers, integrate this with your application, and show different content to logged-in and logged-out users.

Chapter 13, Creating JavaScript Packages, explains how to create standalone JavaScript packages for use by others. You'll see how to write universal JavaScript libraries that can run on both the client and the server, and how to write a standalone command-line application using Node.js.

Chapter 14, Node.js and Beyond, puts the content of this book in a wider context. It explains how Node.js and JavaScript are continuing to evolve, so you can be prepared for and take advantage of upcoming changes. It covers some alternative programming languages for Node.js and the Web, and how these relate to JavaScript. It discusses how some of the principles from Node.js can be applied to .NET programming, and illustrates how these are particularly visible in .NET Core (the new version of .NET). It also shows how you can use Node.js together with .NET to gain the best of both worlds.