About this book
JavaScript has come of age. Building an entire web application from front to back with one language is now possible with JavaScript (even if that JavaScript is TypeScript-flavored). The MEAN stack is comprised of the best-of-breed technologies in this arena. You’ve got MongoDB for the database, Express for the server-side web-application framework, Angular for the client-side framework, and Node for the server-side platform.
This book introduces these technologies and explains how to get them working well together as a stack. Throughout the book, you’ll build a working application, focusing on one technology at a time, seeing how each technology fits into the overall application architecture. Therefore, this is a practical book designed to get you comfortable with all the technologies and using them together.
A common theme running through the book is “best practice.” This book is a springboard to building great things with the MEAN stack, so there’s a focus on creating good habits, doing things the right way, and planning.
This book doesn’t teach HTML, CSS, or basic JavaScript; previous knowledge is assumed. It does include a brief primer on the Twitter Bootstrap CSS framework and an introduction to TypeScript. Also, see appendix D for a good, long discussion on JavaScript theory, best practice, tips, and gotchas; it’s worth checking out early.
This book takes you on a journey through 12 chapters, in four parts.