Pro MERN Stack: Full Stack Web App Development with Mongo, Express, React, and Node

Assemble the complete stack required to build a modern web app using React: MongoDB (a NoSQL database) and Express (a framework for web application servers), which runs on Node (JavaScript on the server side), complement React very nicely. This book will also cover many other tools that go into building a complete web application: React Router, React-Bootstrap, Redux, Babel, and webpack.

Though the primary focus of Pro MERN Stack is to equip you with all that is required to build a full-fledged web application, a large portion of the book will be devoted to React.

The popular MEAN (MongoDB, Express, AngularJS, Node) stack introduced Single Page Apps (SPAs) and front-end Model-View-Controller (MVC) as new and efficient paradigms. But it has its shortcomings such as lack of support for SEO friendly server-side rendering and being too prescriptive by being a framework.

Facebook's React is a technology that competes indirectly with AngularJS. It is not a full-fledged MVC framework. It is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces (in some sense the View part). Yet, it is possible to build a web app by replacing AngularJS with React – hence the term MERN stack.

What You Will Learn

• Discover the details of React, the React Way, and how to get the maximum out of this library
• See the basics of MongoDB, Express, and Node, enough to build a web app
• Work with other tools complementary to React, including React-Bootstrap and React Router
• Use the tools required to build JavaScript based SPAs
• Tie all the components together to build a complete web app.

Who This Book Is For

Developers and architects who have prior experience in any web app stack other than the MERN stack will find the book useful to learn about this modern stack. Prior knowledge of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS is required.

About the Author

Vasan Subramanian has experienced all kinds of programming, from 8-bit, hand-assembled code on an 8085 to AWS Lambda. He not only loves to solve problems using software, but he also looks for the right mix of technology and processes to make a software product team most efficient. He learned software development at companies such as Corel, Wipro, and Barracuda Networks, not just as a programmer but also as a leader of teams at those companies.

Vasan studied at IIT Madras and IIM Bangalore. In his current job as CTO at Accel, he mentors startups on all things tech. While not mentoring or coding (or writing books!), Vasan runs half marathons and plays 5-a-side soccer. He can be contacted at vasan.promern@gmail.com for boquets, brickbats, or anything in-between.