// the find
azat-co/practicalnode
Practical Node.js, 1st and 2nd Editions [Apress] 📓
The companion code and manuscript for Azat Mardan's Practical Node.js book (1st and 2nd editions, Apress). It's a learning resource, not a library — you get 16 chapters of prose plus runnable examples covering Express, MongoDB, Mongoose, OAuth, WebSockets, Docker, and AWS Lambda. Target audience is developers new to Node.js who want a structured, project-based walkthrough.
The breadth of topics covered in one place is genuinely useful for a beginner: you go from basic Express routing all the way to Docker/ECS and Lambda in a single narrative. The code is organized per-chapter so you can run any example in isolation without wiring up a full project. Chapter 14 on async patterns (callbacks → promises → async/await → generators) is a solid progression that mirrors how the ecosystem actually evolved. The 'work-in-open' model means you can read it free on GitHub without buying the book.
Last commit was 2023 but the 2nd edition content is from 2018 — Express 4, Mongoskin (effectively dead), everyauth (abandoned), Jade/Pug, and Grunt are all showing their age badly. The MongoDB chapters use patterns that predate the official driver's async API overhaul and would mislead someone starting today. No TypeScript anywhere, which makes this increasingly irrelevant for new Node.js projects. The repo also still has SSL private keys committed in chapter 13 code examples, which is a bad habit to teach.