Node.js Basics Course (How To)

In this course we will create two command line applications using the popular server-side JavaScript platform Node.js. We'll be creating an application to retrieve a student's Treehouse profile information and be working with a dictionary API to retrieve definitions of a given word.

What you'll learn

• Write command line applications in Node.js
• Talk to an API with Node.js
• Handle errors

Introduction to Node.js

Node.js is a JavaScript environment that allows you to perform a multitude of tasks and build all sorts of exciting applications.

In this section, we'll discuss what Node is, why you'd use it and how to use it.

Chevron 3 steps

• What is Node.js

  5:48

• Hello World

  3:32

• Review Introduction to Node

  5 questions

Building a Command Line Application

Node.js can be used to make all sorts of applications. In this section we'll build our project, a command-line application to retrieve students' profile information from the Treehouse API.

Chevron 7 steps

• Planning our Project

  3:48

• Requesting data with https

  6:27

• Getting the Response Body

  5:17

• Getting the response body

  2 objectives

• The Process Object

  7:38

• Parsing JSON

  1 objective

• Command Line Arguments

  2 questions

Handling Errors in Node

Handling errors is an essential part of developing an application. If you expect other people to use your code, it's vital to handle every situation that could go wrong.

Chevron 4 steps

• The error event in Node

  5:57

• Capture Synchronous Errors with Try Catch

  1:44

• Handle Status Code Errors

  3:44

• Error Review

  3 questions

Building a Dictionary App

In this final stage, you'll use everything you've learned so far in creating a command line application with Node.js to create a second application that connects to a dictionary API and displays information based on user input.

Chevron 3 steps

• Project Overview

  2:24

• Solution: Retrieving & Parsing Data

  2:19

• Node.js Basics Review

  7 questions