Backend Development

Overview

This course features Coursera Coach! A smarter way to learn with interactive, real-time conversations that help you test your knowledge, challenge assumptions, and deepen your understanding as you progress through the course. This course will teach you essential backend development skills, starting with Node.js. You’ll learn to handle file operations, manage modules, and perform synchronous and asynchronous tasks. Next, you'll dive into Express.js for building web applications, routing, and working with APIs. The course then covers MongoDB and Mongoose, where you'll learn to perform CRUD operations and manage databases effectively. You’ll also complete hands-on projects, such as building an API and a CRUD application, and learn to use tools like NPM, Nodemon, and MongoDB Compass for efficient development. This course is ideal for developers eager to learn backend technologies. Basic JavaScript knowledge is recommended but not required. By the end of the course, you will be able to create backend applications using Node.js, Express.js, and MongoDB, and build scalable, data-driven web apps.

Syllabus

Node.js + NPM (Zero to Hero)

This module introduces Node.js, a powerful JavaScript runtime for backend development. You will explore Node.js core modules for file operations, events, and working with the operating system. You'll also understand the difference between synchronous and asynchronous programming in Node.js, how to create an HTTP server, and how to handle routing and JSON responses. The section also covers the essentials of NPM and using tools like Nodemon to streamline development.

Express.js + HBS (Zero to Hero)

This module covers Express.js, a minimal and flexible Node.js web application framework. You’ll learn to build robust and scalable applications using Express’s routing capabilities. The section also dives into Handlebars (HBS), a popular template engine, allowing you to dynamically render content. You will implement 404 pages, query strings, and work with APIs seamlessly in your Express.js applications.

MongoDB + Mongoose (Zero to Hero)

In this module, you will explore MongoDB, a NoSQL database known for its flexibility and scalability. You will learn to perform CRUD operations directly in MongoDB and work with MongoDB Compass for easier database management. The section also introduces Mongoose, an Object Data Modeling (ODM) library for MongoDB, to streamline database interactions, including schema design, document creation, and advanced query methods.