Intro to Node

Introduction to Node

Getting Started

1. package.json

We're going to create a package.json file for our new application. This contains information about your app, such as:

• Application's name
• Author
• Git(hub) repository
• Current version
• License And in the future, it will also save any dependancies your application may have.

Let's Give it a Try

• To get started, create a new project folder. Change directory to that folder.
• Next, create an empty Javascript file to host our application: touch app.js
• Then, enter the following command:

• That's right: npm init

You'll be prompted through a variety of questions, such as:

name: an_api
version: (1.0.0) 0.1.0
description: My first express api
entry point: (index.js) app.js
test command:
git repository: https://github.com/code-for-coffee/express_api
keywords:
author: your-user-name
license: (ISC) MIT

This generates the following package.json file:

{
  "name": "Tasker",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "description": "The MEAN way to track your Tasks!",
  "main": "app.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
  },
  "repository": {
    "type": "git",
    "url": "https://github.com/code-for-coffee/Tasker"
  },
  "author": "code-for-coffee",
  "license": "MIT",
  "bugs": {
    "url": "https://github.com/code-for-coffee/Tasker/issues"
  },
  "homepage": "https://github.com/code-for-coffee/Tasker"
}

2. Setting Application dependancies

Use npm install <pkg> --save afterwards to install a package and save it as a dependency in the package.json file. Once you run this command, a dependency object will be created inside of your package.json. Go ahead - take a look! It looks like this, right?

"dependencies": {
  "express": "^4.12.4"
}

All node package files are saved to node_modules folder. If provided a package.json file from another project, you can run the npm install command to fetch/install the required packages for that app!