Getting Started with Node Development

Welcome to Code the Dream’s Node/Express class! You will be learning Node.js, an implementation of the JavaScript engine that runs standalone or as a web server. This page describes how to begin. You can develop Node applications on MacOS, Linux, or Windows. If you are developing on Windows, there is no need to do development in a virtual machine, as Node development works fine in Windows native environments, but you can use the Windows Subsystem for Linux if you prefer. You will need to install:

• Git
• Node
• Postman
• Postgresql
• The node-homework git repository

Git

The git program is typically already present on MacOS and Linux. You can run

git --version

to see if it is installed. On Windows, you should install Git for Windows, if you haven’t already. It is available here. You will also need an editor. For JavaScript development the VSCode editor is strongly recommended. Finally, you will need to install Node and the Node Package Manager npm. That package is available here. You should install the latest LTS (Long Term Support) version. The other package you need is called Postman. In this class, you create REST APIs. You may have no front end for those APIs, so you need to test them with Postman. The Postman package is available here.

Node

For Windows and Mac, the installer for Node is available here.

For Linux, you enter the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nodejs
sudo apt install npm

Verify Node.js and npm installation:

node --version
npm --version

You should see version numbers for both tools.

PostgreSQL

You will learn and use the SQL language for relational database access in this course. The SQL database we use is called PostgreSQL. The steps needed to install and configure this package are a little different depending on the platform.

Postgresql on Mac

Enter the following commands in a terminal session. The <username> you use is your Mac username, that is, the value returned by the whoami command.

brew update
brew install postgresql@14
brew services start postgresql@14
psql -U postgres
CREATE ROLE <username> LOGIN CREATEDB;
CREATE DATABASE nodehomework OWNER <username>;
CREATE DATABASE tasklist OWNER <username>;
CREATE DATABASE testtasklist OWNER <username>;
\q

Verify PostgreSQL installation:

psql --version

You should see a version number like psql (PostgreSQL) 14.x.

Postgresql on Windows

The installer for Postgresql is here. You will need to assign a password for PostgreSQL itself (they call it superuser with user ID is "postgres"). Think of one and write it down. You will be prompted for it during the installation. However you will learn to create another user ID mypguser and password for this user ID. This Postgres user ID will be used for database access. Think of mypguser password and write it down. Of course, don't reuse existing passwords.

Run the install program, accepting all default values. You can watch this video from 0:00 - 6:00 to make sure the application is installed correctly. Once it completes, open the Windows services panel (Task Manager) and verify that the Postgresql service is running. Then open a cmd prompt (not Git Bash) and type the following, entering the Postgres password (created above for superuser ID) when prompted, and substituting the mypguser password for <pg-password>:

"C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\17\bin\psql.exe" -U postgres -h localhost

Note: Remember to check PostgreSQL version. The command above uses PostgreSQL version 17.

CREATE ROLE mypguser LOGIN CREATEDB PASSWORD '<pg-password>';
CREATE DATABASE nodehomework OWNER mypguser;
CREATE DATABASE tasklist OWNER mypguser;
CREATE DATABASE testtasklist OWNER mypguser;
\q

Note: SQL commands are typically terminated by a semicolon (;) and Strings are enclosed in single quotes '...'

Postgresql on Linux

On Linux (or WSL) Postgres is installed as follows. The <username> is your Linux username, whatever whoami returns.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install postgresql
sudo service posgresql start
sudo -su postgres psql
CREATE DATABASE nodehomework OWNER <username>;
CREATE DATABASE tasklist OWNER <username>;
CREATE DATABASE tasklisttest OWNER <username>;
CREATE ROLE <username> LOGIN CREATEDB;
\q

The PostgreSQL Service

The steps above won't ensure that the Postgresql service always starts on Mac or Linux. If you reboot, it won't automatically start. This could be fixed, but you don't need it running all the time. You only need it when working on a Node assignment that uses the database, but you will get error messages if you don't start the service when working on those lessons.

The installation procedure for Windows makes the Postgresql service start automatically. You could change this to manual in the services panel, starting the service from that panel when you need it. You don't want your boot times to get longer.

Additional Steps for Windows

A few additional steps are recommended when setting up a Windows machine for Node development. When you install Git for Windows, you get a terminal shell program called Git Bash. This is the terminal environment you should use for Node development. Do not use cmd.exe or PowerShell, as these terminal environments work differently. With Git Bash, your terminal will work like the Linux or MacOS terminals, so you can enter the same commands as the students with Linux or MacOS. It helps to have some basic understanding of these shell commands: cd, ls, mkdir, touch, pwd. If you are not familiar with these, there is a tutorial here. You should always start a Git Bash session to issue git, node, or npm commands. You should also configure git to handle line endings in the Linux way, via these commands:

git config --global core.eol lf
git config --global core.autocrlf input

You should also configure npm to integrate with Git Bash. This is done with the following command:

npm config set script-shell "C:\\Program Files\\git\\bin\\bash.exe"

You should also configure VSCode to handle line ends as Linux does, and to use Git Bash as the terminal shell. Start VSCode from your Git Bash session by typing

code .

You can then bring up the settings for VSCode by pressing Ctrl, (the ctrl key plus the comma). The settings has a Search settings entry field. Type 'line end' in that entry field. You will then be able to set the Eol to /n which is what you want. Then do a Search settings for: 'terminal integrated default profile windows'. This brings up a dropdown, from which you should choose Git Bash. That completes Windows specific setup.

The node-homework Repository

All of your homework, including the class final project, will be created in this repository. You should install it now. There are also some configuration steps.

Create a repository called node-homework in your online github account. This repository should be created as public, without a README, gitignore, or license file. Do not fork the node-homework repository from Code the Dream. Copy the URL for your new repository to your clipboard.

Within a terminal session on your laptop( or PC), open the folder where you want to keep your code, and do:

    git clone https://github.com/Code-the-Dream-School/node-homework

Then, switch to the node-homework directory that you have just cloned, and within the terminal, enter the following commands:

git remote set-url origin <URL> # This is the URL of the repository you created.
git remote add upstream https://github.com/Code-the-Dream-School/node-homework
git push origin main
npm install

You are populating your own repository with the contents of Code the Dream School repository. You do it this way, instead of creating a fork, because you want the default target for your homework pull requests to be your own repository. The npm install gives you the packages you need to run the homework programs.

Once in a while, it may be necessary to get updates from Code the Dream for some code that's included with this repository. That is the purpose of the upstream remote. If this happens, a mentor will post instructions on how to pull down the update or you'd do the following:

git checkout main
git pull upstream main

You may have an assignment branch active when these updates are needed. So then you'd do:

git checkout main
git pull upstream main
git checkout assignmentx # the branch you were working in
git merge main

If you have uncommitted changes in your working branch, the git checkout main may give an error message. So then you'd do:

git stash
git checkout main
git pull upstream main
git checkout assignmentx # the branch you were working in
git merge main
git stash apply

This procedure should be infrequent -- only when changes are made to the course.

Last thing, you need to create a .env file in the root of the node-homework folder. The format of this file depends on your operating system.

The .env file for the Mac

DB_URL=postgresql://<username>@localhost/nodehomework?host=/tmp
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://<username>@localhost/tasklist?host=/tmp
TEST_DATABASE_URL=postgresql://<username>@localhost/tasklist?host=/tmp

The .env file for Windows

You use the password you created for the mypguser PostgreSQL user, substituting that for <pg-password> below.

DB_URL=postgresql://mypguser:<pg-password>@localhost/nodehomework
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://mypguser:<pg-password>@localhost/tasklist
TEST_DATABASE_URL=postgresql://mypguser:<pg-password>@localhost/testtasklist

The .env file for Linux

DB_URL=postgresql://<username>@localhost/nodehomework?host=/var/run/postgresql
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://<username>@localhost/tasklist?host=/var/run/postgresql
TEST_DATABASE_URL=postgresql://<username>@localhost/tasklist?host=/var/run/postgresql

Validating Your node-homework Configuration

From your node-homework folder, run the following:

node load-db

You should see messages that tables have been loaded. If this doesn't work, ask a mentor or another student for help. Remember that the PostgreSQL service must be running when you do this command.

What is the load-db.js file?

The load-db.js file is a database setup script that:

• Creates 5 database tables: customers, employees, products, orders, and line_items
• Loads sample data from CSV files in a ./csv/ folder
• Sets up relationships between tables (foreign keys)
• Validates your database connection is working

When you run node load-db, it builds a complete business database system that you'll use for your assignments. Make sure PostgreSQL is running and the ./csv/ folder exists with the required data files.

Note: You can see these 5 database tables by using pgAdmin 4 (the desktop GUI application for managing and developing PostgreSQL databases, provided when you install PostgreSQL) following:

pgAdmin 4 => Servers => PostgreSQL 17 => Databases => notehomework => Schemas => public => Tables

Your Assignments

Each of your assignments will be created in the node-homework directory. Before you start work on the assignment, you create a git branch for it. For example, for the week 1 assignment, you would change to the node-homework directory and enter the command

git checkout -b assignment1

Then, from the node-homework folder type code . to bring up VSCode for that directory. It is a good idea to do git add and commit operations several times as you work on an assignment, whenever your code is stable. You give each commit a meaningful message so that you know how far you got.

When you have finished the week’s assignment, you push it to github as follows:

git status
git add -A
git commit -m "Completion of week 1 assignment"
git push origin assignment1

You then go to github and open your node-homework repository. You create a pull request. Open the assignment submission form for the class. Include a link to your pull request in that form. Do not merge the pull request until your reviewer approves it. Each assignment should be developed in its own feature branch, created from the latest version of the main branch. This keeps your work isolated and avoids carrying over unfinished code from earlier assignments. Before creating a new branch, make sure your local main branch is up to date:

git checkout main
git pull origin main
git checkout -b assignment2

The node-homework Project Structure

• assignment1/, assignment2/, ...: Folders for assignments or parts of assignments that are not part of the final project.
• tdd/: All TDD for homework assignments.
• tests/: For assignment9 on testing.
• project-links.txt: Record links to PRs for the React repository and URLs of deployed React and Node apps. You won't need this until lesson 10.
• Usual Express files (e.g., app.js, routes/, controllers/, utils/, models/, tests/, etc.) will be present in the root or as needed for the Node/Express app.
• package.json: Single package file for the whole project.
• The repository is structured for cloud deployment.

Good Luck With the Class, and Happy Coding!

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Code the Dream This project is licensed under the MIT License – see the LICENSE file for details.