The web has become so ingrained in us that we take it for granted but every once in a while we need to take a step back and see how it really works.The basic flow is the (client) your computer makes a request to the server. The server then processes the request and sends back a response.
We need to take a step back and understand the server can do many things.
- It listens to HTTP requests or better known as a web server
- Business logic
- Access the DB
- Input validation for form input.
- Authentication and Authorizations
- Returns a HTTP response
However, depending on the language you choose will decide how the server is setup. In Ruby Rack process just the Http request and we write our Ruby code to do the rest(no pun intended) Talk to the DB, validate the user input, etc. It makes starting a web application very easy as there is no requirement to build out the webserver the same thing is with PHP you use Apache. However, in Node.js we will actually add functionality to the web server and use Js to build it. Why is the important to know ? In any application the more you can understand what is going on the better you will be at dealing with errors and optimizing run time.
This is a basic server code in js that we need to write ,
const http = require('http')
//will run this function for every incoming request
const server = http.createServer((req,res)=>{
console.log(req)
})
server.listen(3000)
Top tip – Don’t try to reinvent the wheel research there may be a library to help you deal with the issue you are facing. On the flip side when you are trying to learn a new concept it is some times might help you build it out on your own.
All the best,
Simcha Greenbaum