The Complete Node JS Developer Course @Udemy

 

The Complete Node JS Developer Course @Udemy

This Udemy course was recommended to me by Kingsley Ijomah. He's an experienced software engineer and a fantastic online coding tutor! He has not yet produced a JavaScript or Node.js course, but he keeps his ear to the ground.

The main instructor for this course is Andrew Mead.

Section 1

Course Intro

The first three videos are to introduce the course and the instructor, and to get you all set up and ready to take the course. First we downloaded Node.js and the recommended text editor, Sublime Text, which I have been using for about four or five years.

Section 2

Introduction to Terminal

We're going to be using the terminal to run our Node.js files. I had some lessons on the Terminal about a year ago, and it reminds me of using my mum's old computer when I was a kid. I just got used to it because I used it every day to play games on floppy disk... Fast forward a few years, and I have unlearned a lot of stuff! The more you use Terminal, the more instinctual it becomes.

I use a mac, so I followed lesson 4, which is specifically for OS X & Linux. Lesson 5 is for Microsoft.

In this lesson we're learning to navigate our computer using the Terminal. Here are the main prompts we've covered so far:

pwd = print working directory
ls  Lists out all the folders and files inside the current folder
cd = change directory - Allows you to specify a folder name and navigate to that folder

The instructor, Andrew Mead, runs at a really good pace, and it's easy to keep up with the course. So far, so awesome.

Hello World!

In lesson 6 we learn that to run a node file from the Terminal, you must type the following:

node filename.js

So, that's the word node, followed by a space, followed by the .js file name and then press enter.

This lesson was really slow and simple. The task was to create a .js file, write a simple console.log statement containing a string, and run it from the Terminal.

For someone who knows JavaScript already, parts of the course may be a little slow and repetitive, but that's great for people who want to learn or revise JavaScript and Node.js at the same time.

Section 3

What is Node.js?

In lesson 7 we're back to the Terminal again. If you simply type the word node and press enter, you can use the Terminal as your text editor instead of using Sublime.

Section 3 of this course is pretty much teaching you JavaScript.

Node.js is essentially JavaScript, but it can do some things that JavaScript can't. The differences are explained in more detail later on in the course.