You will be required to have an IDE, Visual Studio Code, Node.js and MongoDB. You will also need to install Git, in order use the Git repository of this book.

The code files of this chapter can be found on GitHub:
https://github.com/PacktPublishing/MERN-Quick-Start-Guide/tree/master/Chapter01

Check out the following video to see the code in action:
https://goo.gl/1zwc6F

The MERN stack is a solution composed of four main components:

• MongoDB: A database that uses a document-oriented data model.
• ExpressJS: A web application framework for building web applications and APIs.
• ReactJS: A declarative, component-based, and isomorphic JavaScript library for building user interfaces.
• Node.js: A cross-platform JavaScript runtime environment built on Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine allows developers to build diverse tools, servers, and applications.

These fundamental components that comprise the MERN stack are open source, and are thus maintained and developed by a great community of developers. What ties these components together is a common language, JavaScript.

The recipes in this chapter will mainly focus on setting up a development environment to work with a MERN stack.

You are free to use the code editor or IDE of your choice. However, I would suggest you give Visual Studio Code a try if you have trouble deciding which IDE to use.

Most modern web applications implement the MVC architectural pattern. It consists of three interconnected parts that separate the internal representation of information in a web application:

• Model: Manages the business logic of an application that determines how data should be stored, created, and modified
• View: Any visual representation of the data or information
• Controller: Interprets user-generated events and transforms them into commands for the model and view to update accordingly:

The Separation of Concern (SoC) design pattern separates frontend from backend code. Following the MVC architectural pattern, developers are able to adhere to the SoC design pattern, resulting in a consistent and manageable application structure.

The recipes in the following chapters implement this architectural pattern to separate the frontend and the backend.

The official MongoDB website provides up-to-date packages containing binaries for installing MongoDB on Linux, OS X, and Windows.

Visit the official website of MongoDB at https://www.mongodb.com/download-center, select Community Server, and then select your preferred operating system version of the software and download it.

Installing MongoDB and configuring it may require additional steps.

Visit the documentation website of MongoDB at https://docs.mongodb.com/master/installation/ for instructions and check the Tutorials section for your specific platform.

After installation, an instance of mongod-, the daemon process for MongoDB-, can be started in a standalone fashion:

1. Open a new Terminal
2. Create a new directory named data, which will contain the Mongo database
3. Type mongod --port 27017 --dbpath /data/ to start a new instance and create a database
4. Open another Terminal
5. Type mongo --port 27017 to connect a Mongo shell to the instance

As an alternative, you can opt to use a Database as a service (DBaaS) such as MongoDB Atlas, which, at the time of writing, allows you to create a free cluster with 512 MB of storage. Another simple alternative is mLab, although there are many other options.

The official Node.js website provides two packages containing LTS and Current (containing the latest features) binaries to install Node.js on Linux, OS X, and Windows.

For the purpose of this book, we will install Node.js v10.1.x.

To download the latest version of Node.js:

1. Visit the official website at https://nodejs.org/en/download/
2. Select Current | Latest Features
3. Select the binary for your preferred platform or operating system (OS)
4. Download and install

If you prefer to install Node.js via package manager, visit https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/ and select your preferred platform or OS.

The installation of Node.js includes a package manager called npm, which is the default and most widely used package manager for installing JavaScript/Node.js libraries.

NPM packages are listed in the NPM registry at https://registry.npmjs.org/, where you can search for packages and even publish your own.

There are other alternatives to NPM as well, such as Yarn, which is compatible with the public NPM registry. You are free to use the package manager of your choice; however, for the purpose of this book, the package manager used in the recipes will be NPM.

NPM expects to find a package.json file at the root of your project folder. This is a configuration file that describes the details of your project, such as its dependencies, the name of the project, and the author of the project.

Before you're able to install any packages in your project, you must create a package.json file. These are the steps you will usually take to create a project:

1. Create a new project folder in your preferred location and either name it mern-cookbook or give it another name of your choice.
2. Open a new Terminal.
3. Change the current directory to the new folder you just created. This is usually done with the cd command in your Terminal.
4. Run npm init to create a new package.json file, following the steps displayed in the Terminal.

After that, you should have a package.json file that will look something like the following:

{ 
    "name": "mern-cookbook", 
    "version": "1.0.0", 
    "description": "mern cookbook recipes", 
    "main": "index.js", 
    "scripts": { 
        "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1" 
    }, 
    "author": "Eddy Wilson", 
    "license": "MIT" 
} 
 

After this, you will be able to use NPM to install new packages for your project.

1. Open a new Terminal
2. Change the current directory to where your newly created project folder is located
3. Run the following line to install the chalk package:

      npm --save-exact install chalk

Now, you will be able to use the package in your project via require in Node.js. Go through the following steps to see how you can use it:

1. Create a new file named index.js and add the following code:

      const chalk = require('chalk') 
      const { red, blue } = chalk 
      console.log(red('hello'), blue('world!')) 

2. Then, open a new Terminal and run the following:

      node index.js  

NPM will connect to and look in the NPM registry for the package named react, and will download it and install it if it exists.

The following are some useful flags that you can use NPM with:

• --save: This will install and add the package name and version in the dependencies section of your package.json file. These dependencies are modules that your project will use while in production.
• --save-dev: This works in the same way as the --save flag. It will install and add the package name in the devDependencies section of the package.json file. These dependencies are modules that your project will use during development.
• --save-exact: This keeps the original version of the installed package. This means, if you share your project with other people, they will be able to install the exact same version of the package that you use.

While this book will provide you with a step-by-step guide to installing the necessary packages in every recipe, you are encouraged to visit the NPM documentation website at https://docs.npmjs.com/getting-started/using-a-package.json to learn more.