Tutorial: Creating REST API with Express JS

Express JS continues to be one of the most popular frameworks for building web applications. In this tutorial, we will be focusing on creating a REST API using Express JS in the year 2024.

Step 1: Setting up your project

Start by creating a new project folder and initializing a new npm project. You can do this by running the following commands in your terminal:

mkdir my-rest-api-project
cd my-rest-api-project
npm init -y

Step 2: Installing Express JS

Next, you will need to install Express JS in your project. Run the following command in your terminal:

npm install express

Step 3: Creating your first endpoint

Now, create a new file called app.js in your project folder. In this file, you can start by requiring Express and creating a basic server with a single endpoint:

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

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

app.listen(3000, () => {
   console.log('Server is running on port 3000');
});

Step 4: Testing your API

Finally, you can start your server by running the following command in your terminal:

node app.js

Visit http://localhost:3000 in your browser to see the message ‘Hello, World!’ displayed. You have now successfully created your first REST API using Express JS in 2024!