Week 1 - Core Idea, Initial Research, and Environment Set Up

[farzaa]

Felipe's idea is to create a desktop app (in Electron) that will track stats for a user by calling the Riot Games API. Basically, the app will show the user's stats overtime. Things like LP, average CS, average KDA, etc.

So, the learning curve to get going with Electron is pretty steep if someones never done anything with node before.

The main goal for this week is to really understand how node/websites works. Specifically, HTTP requests, routers, pages, etc.

For this week Felipe should focus on getting this done -

• [x] This is going to sound super boring. But I'd like you to write just one paragraph that talks about what Node is and what it does. Post this paragraph as a comment here whenever!
• [x] I also want you to answer this question as a comment below here: What's the difference between node.js, and javascript?
• [x] Finally, go ahead and start your own Hello World node.js app! Check out Hello Console, Hello HTTP, and Hello Router here.
• [x] Commit/ Push this to GitHub using the command line.
• [x] Next, check out this thing called express.js. I want you to start figuring out what it is and how its used. Whats the difference between node and express?
• [x] Create a super simple "Hello World" Express app in a different file and commit/push this to GitHub.

[felipe-linares]

What is Node?

Node is a runtime environment that allows javascript to be used outside of a browser using Chrome's V8 engine. It includes libraries for I/O. Node is also asynchronous and non-blocking, allowing the most efficient use of a CPU, while javascript on its own is used with an event loop and can only have a single callback at a time.

[felipe-linares]

Node vs Javascript

Javascript is a language while node is a runtime for javascript that also includes libraries in order for it to function with I/O. Javascript can only have a single callback at a time and is used with an event loop while Node is non-blocking. Node allows server-side scripting while Javascript does not.

[felipe-linares]

Node vs Express

Express is a framework built to work FOR Node. The express framework is used for web-applications while node is used for server-side events. It is the most common node framework because it is so simple. It is really a barebones framework that allows the most use of 'raw' node.