Overview

What is Express?

Express.js is a Node.js framework for creating web servers, which run in the backend. Express makes it easy to listen to a port and post and retrieve data from a database based on any CRUD request.

What is MongoDB?

MongoDB allows us to easily create our own NoSQL database with just a few clicks. It is a document database, where each document represents one entry. These entries have fields in key-value pairs which all follow an outline for how the data should be structured.

Creating Your Own API

A Note On CRUD

Before we begin, it's necessary to explain the most common usage of tools like Express and MongoDB. CRUD is an acronym for create, read, update, and delete. These are the four major operations when it comes to databasing - creating data, reading it, updating it, and deleting it.

So when you create your own API, it's important to keep these types of transactions in mind - they'll often be the ones that you'll need to take into account before you begin programming and to put in your plan for creating a database and associated API.

Creating An Express Server

https://youtu.be/DARH4pCB_wY

Key Takeaways:

• Express allows you to easily create a server listening on a localhost port.
• You can create a switch case style structure to create different "routes" on your server - these routes represent different URLs that your API supports.
• You can keep your server running and refreshing as you make changes by installing nodemon via npm install -g nodemon and running your apps prefixed with nodemon instead of node.

Using MongoDB With Express

https://youtu.be/XfxGlqhuB3I

Setting up MongoDB

Key Takeaways:

• MongoDB is a powerful, popular NoSQL database - that means it contains collections full of documents that contain fields of data.
  • Each document is one specific entry into the database, and its fields are key-value pairs that represent its particular attributes.