tech-studies

Node.js

2 min read

Node.js

roadmap.sh: https://roadmap.sh/nodejs

Suggested path through the Node.js nodes. Each node links to its lesson when written.

Nodes

Introduction

  • What is Node.js
  • Node.js vs the browser
  • How Node.js works (V8, libuv)
  • Installing Node.js
  • Running Node.js code

JavaScript Prerequisites

  • Variables, types & operators
  • Functions & closures
  • Asynchronous JavaScript (callbacks, promises, async/await)
  • ES Modules vs CommonJS

Modules

  • CommonJS (require / module.exports)
  • ECMAScript Modules (import / export)
  • Module resolution
  • global keyword
  • Built-in (core) modules
  • Writing your own modules

npm

  • package.json
  • Installing packages (local vs global)
  • Semantic versioning
  • package-lock.json
  • npm scripts
  • npx
  • Publishing packages
  • Alternatives: Yarn, pnpm

Error Handling

  • Error objects & stack traces
  • try/catch & async error handling
  • Error-first callbacks
  • Uncaught exceptions & unhandled rejections
  • process.on for errors
  • Debugging (node —inspect, debugger)

Asynchronous Programming

  • Event loop (phases)
  • Event emitters
  • Callbacks
  • Promises
  • async/await
  • process.nextTick & setImmediate
  • Timers (setTimeout, setInterval)

Working with Files

  • fs module (sync, callback, promises)
  • Reading & writing files
  • Watching files
  • path module
  • __dirname & __filename

Command Line Apps

  • process.argv
  • process.env
  • stdin / stdout / stderr
  • Exit codes
  • Printing output (console, chalk)
  • Taking input (prompts, inquirer)

Working with APIs / Networking

  • http & https modules
  • Making HTTP requests (fetch, axios, undici)
  • net & dgram (TCP/UDP)
  • URL & querystring
  • WebSockets (ws, socket.io)

Frameworks

  • Express.js
  • Fastify
  • NestJS
  • Koa
  • Hapi

Working with Databases

  • Relational (PostgreSQL, MySQL)
  • NoSQL (MongoDB, Redis)
  • ORMs & query builders (Prisma, Sequelize, TypeORM, Knex)
  • Connection pooling
  • Migrations

Streams

  • Readable streams
  • Writable streams
  • Duplex & Transform streams
  • Piping & backpressure
  • Buffer

Concurrency & Performance

  • Child processes (spawn, exec, fork)
  • Cluster module
  • Worker threads
  • Memory & CPU profiling
  • Benchmarking

Testing

  • node:test (built-in test runner)
  • Jest
  • Vitest
  • Mocha & Chai
  • Supertest (HTTP assertions)

Logging

  • console
  • Pino
  • Winston
  • Morgan

Keeping App Running & Deploying

  • Process managers (PM2, nodemon)
  • Environment configuration (dotenv)
  • Containerizing with Docker
  • Graceful shutdown
  • Health checks

More Debugging

  • Memory leaks
  • Async hooks
  • Garbage collection
  • Heap snapshots

Resources

See resources.md.

Project ideas

  • Build a streaming CSV-to-JSON converter CLI using Readable/Transform streams with backpressure.
  • Create a REST API in Express with PostgreSQL, Prisma, JWT auth, and Supertest integration tests.
  • Write a clustered HTTP load balancer using the cluster module and benchmark requests/sec.

1 item under this folder.