arvindsvt / cogs121

COGS121: http://courses.pgbovine.net/cogs121

Tips for building Node.js web apps for your team project

• Do not put node_modules/ in your Git repository. Look at .gitignore to see how I've ignored it from my repository.
• When you run npm install it will install the modules listed in your package.json file; to install individual modules that are not listed in package.json you need to explicitly mention their names: e.g., npm install sqlite3
• Since you're using JavaScript on both the frontend and backend, make sure you're aware of which code should go in the frontend and which should go in the backend. For instance, you should not use jQuery (e.g., $.ajax()) in your backend code.
• Use console.log() in both your frontend and backend code to understand what code is executing and when
  • be especially aware of asynchronous code and callback functions, since they often execute not in the order you're expecting
• Always remember to save your code, restart your server, and reload your frontend in your browser to see the latest edits. nodemon can automatically restart your server for you, and some browser extensions can auto-reload webpages.
• Try to make sure all of your teammates have the same versions of Node.js and npm installed (run node -v and npm -v to check your version numbers).
• Glitch provides free web hosting and an entirely web-based coding environment for Node.js apps. It can also sync with your team's GitHub repository. Feel free to try it as one possible way of getting rid of incompatibilities between setups on your teammates' computers. (It's not mandatory, though.)
  • For example, here is a starter Glitch app for Node.js and SQLite