Best Node.js Tutorials and Resources for Beginners

Node.js is increasingly gaining popularity among web developers. Due to all hosting companies Node.js remains the prerogative of dedicated servers and VPS. Actually VPS is a solution that even a small startup can afford.

For more details refer to the documentation on nodejs.org. As you know, Node.js supports modules. You can find the folder for global modules here: \winginx\nodejs\node_modules\. Modules installed in this folder will be available in all scripts. You can use them, or create a copy in the home directory of your site.

• Winginx includes module manager NPM, popular framework Express.js, and template engine Jade.
• For debugging Node-Inspector module is connected. It’s ran as a Node.js server, to access it hit http://localhost:8080/ (please note that it works only in the webkit-compatible browser – Google Chrome).
• What’s more, to ease your work with database modules and MySQL are also connected.

In brief we can say that Node.js, in contrast to PHP, is not interpreted but is compiled into a single server, and therefore occupies separate port. In conjunction with nginx it works as a backend-server, practicing dynamic queries, and nginx is engaged in statics.

Lets consider an example: take the foundation Node.js-server from the developer:

 
var http = require('http');

http.createServer(function (req, res) {
  res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
  res.end('Hello World\n');
}).listen(1337, '127.0.0.1');

console.log('Server running at http://127.0.0.1:1337/');

Save this script via path home/nodejs.local/server.js. This is how the config will look like in nginx:

 
server {
  listen       127.0.0.1:80;
  server_name  nodejs.local www.nodejs.local;

  root   home/nodejs.local/public_html;
  index  index.html;

  log_not_found off;
  charset utf-8;

  location / {
    if (!-e $request_filename) {
      proxy_pass http://localhost:1337;
    }
  }
}

Pay attention to the port, it has to match the one in Node.js-script.

What remains is to notify Winginx that we need to run out server on Node.js. We can do it using the Winginx TM or manually, by adding the line into the configuration file nodejs/node.conf

server = home/nodejs.local/server.js

Having reloaded Winginx, open following url in your browser http://nodejs.local/. (Don’t forget to add domain nodejs.local into the file hosts.)

Lots of people ask a question if they can use Node.js together with PHP in one project. Well, of course you can, but first of all you need to determine what exactly will be processed by PHP, and what remains for Node.js.

This can be a separate url for Node.js-service. For example, if you want your website to be PHP only, but the chat to be powered by Node.js via url http://site.local/chat/. You’ll have to create a separate location for chat and pass over the control to Node.js (keep in mind that the folder /chat may contain pictures and other static files for a chat, so you need to give Node.js only those requests which do not contain files.

Now let’s go further, we’ve gathered for you a list of resources where you can get all the info you need to get about node.js.

Important Resources and Tutorials for Studying Node.js

Node.js

This is the home of Node.

* * *

Docs.Node.js

* * *

Node Tuts

A series of eight videos for learning Node.js.

* * *

Nettuts Node.js Tutorial

This article can be considered to be the first step into Node.js programming.

* * *

The Beginner Node Book

An online, free and open source book on Node. Great for people new to Node or to server-side JavaScript programming.

* * *

How To Node

List of tutorials and articles on specific topics in Node.js.

* * *

Felix’s Node.js Guide

A great resource created for Node.js developers who are just starting out. Someone may find it out of date, but for beginners it will still be really useful.

* * *

Mastering Node.js

Another open source book. A little lower level but some good stuff.

* * *

Catonmat

This is a list of articles which cover range of Node.js topics including redis and socket.io.

* * *

The Dead-simple Step-by-Step Guide

This is step-by-step guide created for developers, here they will find out how to cope with Node.js, Express, Jade and Mongodb.

* * *

Real Time Web With Node.js. Learning Course

This is an online course for mastering Node.js.

* * *

Node.js for Beginners

* * *

Daily.js

Nice blog with daily updates about Node.js. If you want to be aware of the latest Node releases, news and tricks bookmark this blog or add it to your feed reader.

* * *

Creating a Basic Site With Node.js and Express

In this tutorial you will learn how to code a website using Node.js

* * *

JavaScript Garden

This is a collection of documentation about the most quirky parts of the JavaScript including Node.js.

PDFs and Books

Real Time Web With Node.js

This is a book for the Real Time Web course for learning Node.js.

* * *

Hands on Node.js

This is a learnbook for Node.js, study, make exercises – succeed!

* * *

Mastering Node

This a book with examples of ‘code quotations’ that will help you get into Node quickly and painlessly.

Open source eBook for Nodejs

Open source files for the book mentioned above.

* * *

Bulletproof Node.js coding

In this blog post you will get a brief insight into Node.js coding.

* * *

Node: Up and Running

How to get your Node up and running? Let’s find out from the man who created Node.

* * *

The Node Beginner Book

The aim of this document is to get you started with developing applications for Node.js, teaching you everything you need to know about “advanced” JavaScript along the way. It goes way beyond your typical “Hello World” tutorial.

* * *

Node Cookbook

This book is packed with tons of recipes that will take you from the basics up to extending your Node.js with modules built on your own.

* * *

Node.js in Action

Node.js in Action a book full of example and exercise will definitely be your lighthouse in the world of Node,js coding.

* * *

Smashing Node.js: JavaScript Everywhere

This is a book written by one of the Smashing Magazine authors. If you’re familiar with their works, then you definitely need to know how awesome their books are.

* * *

Node.js the Right Way

This book is for developers who want to learn how to write asynchronous JavaScript for the server using Node.js. Some prior JavaScript experience will help, but you don’t have to be an expert.

* * *

Video Tutorials

History of Node.js with Ryan Dahl

Introduction to Node.js with Ryan Dahl

These are the first two videos you need to watch before you start out with Node.js. In the first one you find about the history of development of Node.js, from it’s father. In the second video Ryan will introduce you to this event-driven I/O framework with a few examples showing Node.js in action.

* * *

Node.js Video Tutorials

Seven episodes in one pack. due to this video course you’ll be able to master all aspect of Node.js. Before you start watching these videos go grab some pop-corn.

* * *

Node.js: JavaScript on the Server

This is a Google Tech Talk presented by Ryan Dahl, the creator of the Node.js. In a remarkably thorough presentation he lays out the impetus and defining elements of the Node.js architecture, contextualizes it with a healthy dose of general background covering server architectures and network communications.

* * *

What the code? Node.js Real Time Chat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bic6WBAplMk&list=PLfdtiltiRHWHZh8C2G0xNRbcf0uyYzzK_
In this video series you will find out how to build fully-functional real time chat using Node.js.

* * *

Ok guys, that’s it, if you have something to add to this list you’re free to drop us a line in the comments below. Thanks for watching us :)

About the Author

Sometimes I feel like there is not enough furry covers for sun-beds on the upper deck of a yacht, but then suddenly I wake up and have to do some blogging. Luckily, I know where to get things you need… Psst, looking for a new Joomla theme for your site? Ask me where to get one, or just say hello on Google+.