- M: MongoDB
- E: Express JS
- R: React JS
- N: Node Js
TypeScript: This is superset of JavaScript that you will be able to declare the type of variables. Similar to Java, Kotlin and Swift.
Tip
TypeScript can be used anywhere you use normal JavaScript.
Bootstrap : This is a package that you can use with React to get UI responsive components easily.
Note
When we are using React we are creating a single-page application. We don't reload the whole page but the content that must be change on any event (like navigating to another page) will be changed using JavaScript. We are getting data from the backend in JSON format via HTTP requests.
Client-side Rendering : We don't receive full page from the the server, we only receive the shell.
NextJs : Framework on top of React that enables you to have more control over what data you load on client-side and what pages you load server-side (where the data is already in the page when coming from the server).
Note
NodeJs allows JavaScript code to run in a server environment. Normally, JavaScript is meant as a language for web browsers. Because of NodeJs we can write our backend using JavaScript too.
npm: Node Package Manager (build tool like maven and gradle)
Important
Front-end shouldn't contain critical details (users can inspect the code). It should only be a user interface to communicate with the back-end. Back-end is like a black-box for users. They can't see what's happening. It runs in a different machine, not in the browser. The front-end only can communicate with the back-end using Requests and Responses. (HTTP)
REST API is also a backend-server, but it fulfills certain constraints. They are usually the servers that used by many different clients. So, they follow many rules and one of them is they don't contain any state.
But this server will later contains states, because the user will be able to login, and for each login there will be a session in the database, and lets the server know that this user is logged in. This is a violation of the restful constraints.
This is not a public public REST API, this is just our own backend server. This can only be used by a single client at a time.
Tip
We can build a public REST API using the same concepts and code used here by adding more functionalities.