Complete 2024 Backend Web Development Course: Node.js, Express.js, MongoDB, Mongoose, and Zod

Welcome to the Backend Web Development Full Course 2024! In this comprehensive tutorial, we will cover everything you need to know about building backend web applications using Node.js, Express.js, MongoDB, Mongoose, and Zod. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced developer looking to expand your skills, this course is designed to help you take your backend development knowledge to the next level.

Before we dive into the details of each technology, let’s start by setting up our development environment. Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

1. Node.js: Node.js is a JavaScript runtime that allows you to run JavaScript code on the server side. You can download the latest version of Node.js from the official website (https://nodejs.org/).

2. NPM: NPM (Node Package Manager) is a package manager for Node.js that allows you to install and manage third-party dependencies. Node.js comes bundled with NPM, so you don’t need to install it separately.

3. Express.js: Express.js is a web application framework for Node.js that provides a set of features for building web applications and APIs. You can install Express.js using NPM by running the following command in your terminal:

npm install express

1. MongoDB: MongoDB is a NoSQL database that stores data in JSON-like documents. You can download MongoDB from the official website (https://www.mongodb.com/).

2. Mongoose: Mongoose is an ORM (Object-Document Mapper) for MongoDB that provides a higher-level abstraction for interacting with the database. You can install Mongoose using NPM by running the following command in your terminal:

npm install mongoose

1. Zod: Zod is a TypeScript-first schema declaration and validation library. You can install Zod using NPM by running the following command in your terminal:

npm install zod

Now that you have set up your development environment, let’s start by creating a new Node.js project. Create a new directory for your project and run the following command in your terminal to initialize a new Node.js project:

npm init -y

This will create a package.json file in your project directory, which contains metadata about your project and its dependencies. Now, let’s install Express.js as a dependency for our project by running the following command in your terminal:

npm install express

Next, let’s create a new file called index.js in your project directory and add the following code to create a basic Express.js server:

const express = require('express');
const app = express();

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Hello, World!');
});

const PORT = process.env.PORT || 3000;
app.listen(PORT, () => {
  console.log(`Server is running on port ${PORT}`);
});

This code creates a new Express.js server that listens for incoming HTTP requests on port 3000 and responds with a simple ‘Hello, World!’ message when you visit the root URL. You can start the server by running the following command in your terminal:

node index.js

Visit http://localhost:3000 in your web browser to see the ‘Hello, World!’ message displayed on the screen. Congratulations, you have successfully set up an Express.js server!

In the next part of this tutorial, we will cover how to connect to a MongoDB database using Mongoose and perform CRUD operations on a collection. Stay tuned for more details on how to build a full-fledged backend web application using Node.js, Express.js, MongoDB, Mongoose, and Zod. Happy coding!