What is Express.js?

Question

I am a learner in Node.js.

1. What\'s Express.js?
2. What\'s the purpose of it with Node.js?
3. Why do we actually need Express.js? How is it useful fo

Answer 1

This is over simplifying it, but Express.js is to Node.js what Ruby on Rails or Sinatra is to Ruby.

Express 3.x is a light-weight web application framework to help organize your web application into an MVC architecture on the server side. You can use a variety of choices for your templating language (like EJS, Jade, and Dust.js).

You can then use a database like MongoDB with Mongoose (for modeling) to provide a backend for your Node.js application. Express.js basically helps you manage everything, from routes, to handling requests and views.

Redis is a key/value store -- commonly used for sessions and caching in Node.js applications. You can do a lot more with it, but that's what I'm using it for. I use MongoDB for more complex relationships, like line-item <-> order <-> user relationships. There are modules (most notably connect-redis) that will work with Express.js. You will need to install the Redis database on your server.

Here is a link to the Express 3.x guide: https://expressjs.com/en/3x/api.html