Smashing Node.js
JavaScript Everywhere
2nd Edition
Published on 4. September 2012
Book
Paperback/Softback
320 pages
978-1-119-96259-5 (ISBN)
Description
Learn to make more efficient apps, with just one language!
Smashing Node.js: JavaScript Everywhere equips you with the necessary tools to understand Node.js and its uses in developing efficient web apps. With more traditional web servers becoming obsolete, having knowledge on servers that achieve high scalability and optimal resource consumption using Node.js is the key to your app development success. Teaching you the essentials to making event-driven server-side apps, this book demonstrates how you can use less space and take less time for communication between web client and server.
* Contains numerous hands-on examples
* Explains implementation of real-time apps including Socket.IO and HTML5, and WebSockets
* Addresses practical Node.js advantages from specific design choices
* Demonstrates why knowledge and use of JavaScript is beneficial
* Includes an interactive online component with sample chapters
* Explains components of stand out apps including brevity and benchmarks
Looking to enhance your abilities even further? Smashing Node.js: JavaScript Everywhere makes developing server-side apps accessible with its focus on JavaScript, open source, and easy-to-use language.
Smashing Node.js: JavaScript Everywhere equips you with the necessary tools to understand Node.js and its uses in developing efficient web apps. With more traditional web servers becoming obsolete, having knowledge on servers that achieve high scalability and optimal resource consumption using Node.js is the key to your app development success. Teaching you the essentials to making event-driven server-side apps, this book demonstrates how you can use less space and take less time for communication between web client and server.
* Contains numerous hands-on examples
* Explains implementation of real-time apps including Socket.IO and HTML5, and WebSockets
* Addresses practical Node.js advantages from specific design choices
* Demonstrates why knowledge and use of JavaScript is beneficial
* Includes an interactive online component with sample chapters
* Explains components of stand out apps including brevity and benchmarks
Looking to enhance your abilities even further? Smashing Node.js: JavaScript Everywhere makes developing server-side apps accessible with its focus on JavaScript, open source, and easy-to-use language.
More details
Person
Guillermo Rauch is CTO and co-founder of San Francisco-based education startup LearnBoost. He is the inventor of several renowned Node.js projects, and he has been a speaker at JSConf as well as Nod.js workshops.
Content
PART I: GETTING STARTED: SETUP AND CONCEPTS 5
Chapter 1: The Setup 7
Installing on Windows 8
Installing on OS X 8
Installing on Linux 8
Compiling 9
Ensuring that it works 9
The Node REPL 9
Executing a file 10
NPM 10
Installing modules 11
Defining your own module 12
Installing binary utilities 13
Exploring the NPM registry 14
Summary 14
Chapter 2: JavaScript: An Overview 15
Introduction 15
Basic JavaScript 16
Types 16
Type hiccups 16
Functions 18
this, Function#call, and Function#apply 18
Functionarity 19
Closures 19
Classes 20
Inheritance 20
try {} catch {} 21
v8 JavaScript 22
Object#keys 22
Array#isArray 23
Array methods 23
String methods 24
JSON 24
Function#bind 24
Function#name 24
_proto_ (inheritance) 25
Accessors 25
Summary 26
Chapter 3: Blocking and Non-blocking IO 27
With great power comes great responsibility 28
Blocking-ness 29
A single-threaded world 31
Error handling 33
Stack traces 35
Summary 37
Chapter 4: Node JavaScript 39
The global object 40
Useful globals 40
The module system 41
Absolute and relative modules 41
Exposing APIs 44
Events 45
Buffers 47
Summary 48
PART II: ESSENTIAL NODE APIS 49
Chapter 5: CLI and FS APIs: Your First Application 51
Requirements 52
Writing your first program 52
Creating the module 53
Sync or async? 54
Understanding streams 55
Input and ouput 57
Refactoring 59
Interacting with the fs 61
Exploring the CLI 63
Argv 63
Working directory 64
Environmental variables 65
Exiting 65
Signals 65
ANSI escape codes 66
Exploring the fs module 66
Streams 67
Watch 67
Summary 68
Chapter 6: TCP 69
What are the characteristics of TCP? 70
Connection-oriented communication and same-order delivery 70
Byte orientation 70
Reliability 71
Flow control 71
Congestion control 71
Telnet 71
A TCP chat program 74
Creating the module 74
Understanding the net.server API 74
Receiving connections 76
The data event 77
State and keeping track of connections 79
Wrap up 81
An IRC Client program 83
Creating the module 83
Understanding the net#Stream API 84
Implementing part of the IRC protocol 84
Testing with a real-world IRC server 85
Summary 85
Chapter 7: HTTP 87
The structure of HTTP 88
Headers 89
Connections 93
A simple web server 94
Creating the module 95
Printing out the form 95
Methods and URLs 97
Data 99
Putting the pieces together 102
Bullet-proofing 103
A Twitter web client 104
Creating the module 104
Making a simple HTTP request 104
Sending a body of data 106
Getting tweets 107
A superagent to the rescue 110
Reloading HTTP servers with up 111
Summary 112
PART III: WEB DEVELOPMENT 113
Chapter 8: Connect 115
A simple website with HTTP 116
A simple website with Connect 119
Middleware 121
Writing reusable middleware 122
Static middleware 127
Query 128
Logger 129
Body parser 131
Cookies 134
Session 134
REDIS sessions 140
methodOverride 141
basicAuth 141
Summary 144
Chapter 9: Express 145
A simple express app 146
Creating the module 146
HTML 146
Setup 147
Defining routes 148
Search 150
Run 152
Settings 153
Template engines 154
Error handling 155
Convenience methods 155
Routes 157
Middleware 159
Organization strategies 160
Summary 162
Chapter 10: WebSocket 163
AJAX 164
HTML5 WebSocket 166
An Echo Example 167
Setting it up 167
Setting up the server 168
Setting up the client 169
Running the server 170
Mouse cursors 171
Setting up the example 171
Setting up the server 172
Setting up the client 174
Running the server 176
The Challenges Ahead 177
Close doesn't mean disconnect 177
JSON 177
Reconnections 177
Broadcasting 177
WebSockets are HTML5: Older browsers don't support them 177
The solution 178
Summary 178
Chapter 11: Socket.IO 179
Transports 180
Disconnected versus closed 180
Events 180
Namespaces 181
A chat program 182
Setting up the program 182
Setting up the server 182
Setting up the client 183
Events and Broadcasting 185
Ensuring reception 190
A DJ-by-turns application 191
Extending the chat 191
Integrating with the Grooveshark API 193
Playing 196
Summary 201
PART IV: DATABASES 203
Chapter 12: MongoDB 205
Installation 207
Accessing MongoDB: A user authentication example 208
Setting up the application 208
Creating the Express app 208
Connecting to MongoDB 212
Creating documents 214
Finding documents 215
Authentication middleware 217
Validation 218
Atomicity 219
Safe mode 219
Introducing Mongoose 220
Defining a model 220
Defining nested keys 222
Defining embedded documents 222
Setting up indexes 222
Middleware 223
Inspecting the state of the model 223
Querying 224
Extending queries 224
Sorting 224
Making Selections 224
Limiting 225
Skipping 225
Populating keys automatically 225
Casting 225
A mongoose example 226
Setting up the application 226
Refactoring 226
Setting up models 227
Summary 229
Chapter 13: MySQL 231
node-mysql 232
Setting it up 232
The Express app 232
Connecting to MySQL 234
Initializing the script 234
Creating data 238
Fetching data 242
sequelize 244
Setting up sequelize 245
Setting up the Express app 245
Connecting sequelize 248
Defining models and synchronizing 249
Creating data 250
Retrieving data 253
Removing data 254
Wrapping up 256
Summary 257
Chapter 14: Redis 259
Installing Redis 261
The Redis query language 261
Data types 262
Strings 263
Hashes 263
Lists 265
Sets 265
Sorted sets 266
Redis and Node 266
Implementing a social graph with node-redis 267
Summary 276
PART V: TESTING 277
Chapter 15: Code Sharing 279
What can be shared? 280
Writing compatible JavaScript 280
Exposing modules 280
Shimming ECMA APIs 282
Shimming Node APIs 283
Shimming browser APIs 284
Cross-browser inheritance 284
Putting it all together: browserbuild 285
A basic example 286
Summary 288
Chapter 16: Testing 289
Simple testing 290
The test subject 290
The test strategy 290
The test program 291
Expect.JS 292
API overview 292
Mocha 294
Testing asynchronous code 295
BDD style 297
TDD style 298
Exports style 298
Taking Mocha to the browser 299
Summary 300
Chapter 1: The Setup 7
Installing on Windows 8
Installing on OS X 8
Installing on Linux 8
Compiling 9
Ensuring that it works 9
The Node REPL 9
Executing a file 10
NPM 10
Installing modules 11
Defining your own module 12
Installing binary utilities 13
Exploring the NPM registry 14
Summary 14
Chapter 2: JavaScript: An Overview 15
Introduction 15
Basic JavaScript 16
Types 16
Type hiccups 16
Functions 18
this, Function#call, and Function#apply 18
Functionarity 19
Closures 19
Classes 20
Inheritance 20
try {} catch {} 21
v8 JavaScript 22
Object#keys 22
Array#isArray 23
Array methods 23
String methods 24
JSON 24
Function#bind 24
Function#name 24
_proto_ (inheritance) 25
Accessors 25
Summary 26
Chapter 3: Blocking and Non-blocking IO 27
With great power comes great responsibility 28
Blocking-ness 29
A single-threaded world 31
Error handling 33
Stack traces 35
Summary 37
Chapter 4: Node JavaScript 39
The global object 40
Useful globals 40
The module system 41
Absolute and relative modules 41
Exposing APIs 44
Events 45
Buffers 47
Summary 48
PART II: ESSENTIAL NODE APIS 49
Chapter 5: CLI and FS APIs: Your First Application 51
Requirements 52
Writing your first program 52
Creating the module 53
Sync or async? 54
Understanding streams 55
Input and ouput 57
Refactoring 59
Interacting with the fs 61
Exploring the CLI 63
Argv 63
Working directory 64
Environmental variables 65
Exiting 65
Signals 65
ANSI escape codes 66
Exploring the fs module 66
Streams 67
Watch 67
Summary 68
Chapter 6: TCP 69
What are the characteristics of TCP? 70
Connection-oriented communication and same-order delivery 70
Byte orientation 70
Reliability 71
Flow control 71
Congestion control 71
Telnet 71
A TCP chat program 74
Creating the module 74
Understanding the net.server API 74
Receiving connections 76
The data event 77
State and keeping track of connections 79
Wrap up 81
An IRC Client program 83
Creating the module 83
Understanding the net#Stream API 84
Implementing part of the IRC protocol 84
Testing with a real-world IRC server 85
Summary 85
Chapter 7: HTTP 87
The structure of HTTP 88
Headers 89
Connections 93
A simple web server 94
Creating the module 95
Printing out the form 95
Methods and URLs 97
Data 99
Putting the pieces together 102
Bullet-proofing 103
A Twitter web client 104
Creating the module 104
Making a simple HTTP request 104
Sending a body of data 106
Getting tweets 107
A superagent to the rescue 110
Reloading HTTP servers with up 111
Summary 112
PART III: WEB DEVELOPMENT 113
Chapter 8: Connect 115
A simple website with HTTP 116
A simple website with Connect 119
Middleware 121
Writing reusable middleware 122
Static middleware 127
Query 128
Logger 129
Body parser 131
Cookies 134
Session 134
REDIS sessions 140
methodOverride 141
basicAuth 141
Summary 144
Chapter 9: Express 145
A simple express app 146
Creating the module 146
HTML 146
Setup 147
Defining routes 148
Search 150
Run 152
Settings 153
Template engines 154
Error handling 155
Convenience methods 155
Routes 157
Middleware 159
Organization strategies 160
Summary 162
Chapter 10: WebSocket 163
AJAX 164
HTML5 WebSocket 166
An Echo Example 167
Setting it up 167
Setting up the server 168
Setting up the client 169
Running the server 170
Mouse cursors 171
Setting up the example 171
Setting up the server 172
Setting up the client 174
Running the server 176
The Challenges Ahead 177
Close doesn't mean disconnect 177
JSON 177
Reconnections 177
Broadcasting 177
WebSockets are HTML5: Older browsers don't support them 177
The solution 178
Summary 178
Chapter 11: Socket.IO 179
Transports 180
Disconnected versus closed 180
Events 180
Namespaces 181
A chat program 182
Setting up the program 182
Setting up the server 182
Setting up the client 183
Events and Broadcasting 185
Ensuring reception 190
A DJ-by-turns application 191
Extending the chat 191
Integrating with the Grooveshark API 193
Playing 196
Summary 201
PART IV: DATABASES 203
Chapter 12: MongoDB 205
Installation 207
Accessing MongoDB: A user authentication example 208
Setting up the application 208
Creating the Express app 208
Connecting to MongoDB 212
Creating documents 214
Finding documents 215
Authentication middleware 217
Validation 218
Atomicity 219
Safe mode 219
Introducing Mongoose 220
Defining a model 220
Defining nested keys 222
Defining embedded documents 222
Setting up indexes 222
Middleware 223
Inspecting the state of the model 223
Querying 224
Extending queries 224
Sorting 224
Making Selections 224
Limiting 225
Skipping 225
Populating keys automatically 225
Casting 225
A mongoose example 226
Setting up the application 226
Refactoring 226
Setting up models 227
Summary 229
Chapter 13: MySQL 231
node-mysql 232
Setting it up 232
The Express app 232
Connecting to MySQL 234
Initializing the script 234
Creating data 238
Fetching data 242
sequelize 244
Setting up sequelize 245
Setting up the Express app 245
Connecting sequelize 248
Defining models and synchronizing 249
Creating data 250
Retrieving data 253
Removing data 254
Wrapping up 256
Summary 257
Chapter 14: Redis 259
Installing Redis 261
The Redis query language 261
Data types 262
Strings 263
Hashes 263
Lists 265
Sets 265
Sorted sets 266
Redis and Node 266
Implementing a social graph with node-redis 267
Summary 276
PART V: TESTING 277
Chapter 15: Code Sharing 279
What can be shared? 280
Writing compatible JavaScript 280
Exposing modules 280
Shimming ECMA APIs 282
Shimming Node APIs 283
Shimming browser APIs 284
Cross-browser inheritance 284
Putting it all together: browserbuild 285
A basic example 286
Summary 288
Chapter 16: Testing 289
Simple testing 290
The test subject 290
The test strategy 290
The test program 291
Expect.JS 292
API overview 292
Mocha 294
Testing asynchronous code 295
BDD style 297
TDD style 298
Exports style 298
Taking Mocha to the browser 299
Summary 300