Smashing Node.js: JavaScript Everywhere, 2nd Edition

Chapter 9: Express

Whereas Connect provides the foundation for the common set of basic tasks that are normally performed on top of the HTTP module, Express provides convenient APIs on top of Connect to build entire websites and web applications.

Throughout the examples in Chapter 8, you might have noticed most of the tasks performed in the interaction between a web browser and web server are organized around methods and URLs. The combination of these two is what is sometimes referred to as routes, a concept that sets the foundation for an Express app.

Express builds on top of Connect and therefore on the idea that you can reuse middleware that performs certain basic tasks. This means you get an expressive API for your web applications, without sacrificing a rich ecosystem of reusable components that sit on top of the HTTP stack.

To see the expressiveness hands-on, write a small application powered entirely by Express to search the Twitter API.

A simple express app

This app, albeit simple, is by definition dynamic. When the user requests “tweets” for their search term, you need to produce HTML that contains them. Instead of concatenating strings that make up that HTML manually in our request handlers, you’ll be leveraging a simple template language that will split the logic of the controller from the view.

The first step will be to ensure we include the module requirements that satisfy these needs.

Creating the module

Create package.json as usual, but this time add two extra ...