Having Node.js in a toolbox is a benefit for any software development company like Railsware. This JavaScript runtime environment lets you build server-side, single-page, streaming and real-time apps, program robots, drones, and various IoT devices. And all this can be carried out by a JS-savvy engineer. However, it’s not enough to be proficient in this front-end programming language to become a good Node.js programmer. Hence, many specific things are expected to be learned and mastered. With this in mind, developers seek informational resources to derive knowledge and become experts in this progressive solution.
Best ways to learn Node.js
In the 21st century, the learning possibilities are not limited to traditional paperback publications. The spaces of the Internet provide numerous options including tutorials, podcasts, blogs, screencasts, video lessons, and other references. In this article, we picked the top options in three categories of educational materials to facilitate the searching efforts of web engineers aimed at Node.js. The following information is not a short in the dark, but a selection based on reviews and feedback of the dedicated community.
Books
The best place to find the best Node.js books is Amazon. Here one can find both reputable publications and some new entries like an updated J. Wilson’s Node.js 8 the Right Way. It’s a brand new edition meant for intermediate to advanced engineers. The book does not foresee the readers to be JS experts, but some corresponding background would be helpful. Besides, it is entirely focused on the server-side implementation of JavaScript and avoids any front-end related stuff.
Another noteworthy publication is brought by Mr. Stone who discovers the use of Node.js for automation. His book, Automating with Node.js, explains how to leverage the best of the technology to reduce manual labor in everyday tasks like emailing, zipping files, etc. In the second part, the readers will learn how to build a web-based Rock Paper Scissors game.
Andrew Mead offers the web developers an easy-to-follow guide across the fundamentals of the JS runtime environment. His book called Learning Node.js Development contains over 600 pages filled with valuable knowledge to master the tool and learn to build, deploy, and test responsive asynchronous web apps. The focus is made on the beginners.
Courses
We’re done with reading and ready to check something more substantial like online courses. Learning platforms like Coursera or Udemy provide hundreds of options for different categories of users. Here are the most interesting ones for the Node.js target-oriented engineers.
“Learn and Understand NodeJS” is the principal option to be considered. Its instructor, Anthony Alicea, guides the audience through different educational modules from the introduction to the app building. In addition to the technology’s peculiar hallmarks like the event loop or asynchronous I/O, the lecturer touches on the Express framework and the MEAN stack.
Another famous option for learning Node.js is Andrew Mead’s “The Complete Node.js Developer” Course. It’s twice longer (26 hours) than the abovementioned course and covers nearly all aspects of the technology. Besides, the audience will be introduced to the creation of REST APIs and work with MongoDB and Mongoose. Both described courses can be found on Udemy and are chargeable. At the same time, developers experiencing a budget crunch can discover free online videos, one of which is “Introduction to Node.js” from its creator, Mr. Ryan Dahl.
Blogs
This source of information should not be neglected since blogs provide an unopinionated view on different aspects of the technology. They are quite useful in terms of a constant upgrade of skills. Naturally, the official Node.js blog is the first thing to take into account. Here one can find the up-to-the-minute info about the JS runtime environment and things related to it like updates, releases, modules, support, etc. This blog is low valued from a learning perspective but is crucial for web engineers. Such places as How to Node and Nodejitsu were quite popular recently. But they froze in the past because the latest posts were released a couple of years ago.
Unlike the previous ones, David Walsh Blog is alive and functional. It feeds its audience with useful data like creating a Twitter bot with Node.js, debugging techniques, two-factor authentication, and so on. DWB is a really good read.
The NodeSource Blog combines the best of a teaching source and a newsfeed. Its readers get updated information about the Node.js current state of affairs, as well as derive knowledge from hands-on use-cases like tracking down and fixing performance bottlenecks, orchestrating containers with Kubernetes, and others.
