Installing Express and Making it Easier to Build a Web Server
Why use express
- You have access to express request and response object, http methods
- No need to set send body and send content type express will figure this out for you.
Big Word
Environment Variables: Global variables specific to the environment (server) our code is living in.
Different servers can have different variable settings, and we can access those values in code.
var port = process.env.PORT || 3000;
HTTP Method: specifies the type of action the request wishes to make
GET, POST, DELETE, and others. Also called verbs.
The Code
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var port = process.env.PORT || 3000;
//this is get method
//this is what gets return if the client request for / directory
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
res.send('<html><head></head><body><h1>Hello world!</h1></body></html>');
});
//what gets return when client request for /api directory
app.get('/api', function(req, res) {
res.json({ firstname: 'John', lastname: 'Doe' });
});
app.listen(port);