React may have opened up new frontiers for frontend web development and changed the way we program JavaScript user interfaces, but we still need a solid backend to build a complete web application. Although there are myriad options when selecting backend technologies, the benefits and appeal of using a full JavaScript stack are undeniable, especially when there are robust and widely-adopted backend technologies such as Node, Express, and MongoDB. Combining the potential of React with these industry-tested, server-side technologies creates a diverse array of possibilities when developing real-world web applications.
This book guides you through setting up for MERN-based web development, to building real-world web applications of varying complexities.
Before diving into the development of these web applications, we are going to answer the following questions in this chapter to set the context for using MERN:
- What is the MERN stack?
- Why is MERN relevant today?
- When is MERN a good fit for developing web apps?
- How is this book organized to help master MERN?
