By which subject do I want to be known as a writer?

Would it work?

Generally, I would like to be known for blogging about old technologies and easing the researching tasks to others.

By that I am targeting technologies as COBOL, none less, it requires dedication and it is not a current issue. Also, I believe that more experience in blogging would help a lot before starting a series on it, so let's start with a newer subject :).

What subject would I be known for?

I would like to be known for MERN stack projects. I am starting to read about that subject, and would like to document about it meanwhile.

What do I know up to know about the subject?

I will explain what I know in the following section:

What is a MERN project?


A MERN project is a stack made with four key technologies: MongoDB - Express - React - Node.js.

  • MongoDB is a NoSQL database which stores data on "documents" using JSON notation. There is no object structure to follow, so each JSON object could have as many name/value pairs and array as as wished. MongoDB's documents can be accessed locally or trough the cloud. I suggest to dowload MongoDBCompass to work with your documents. -> docs.mongodb.com/compass/current

  • Express.js: It's is a server-side framework used for URL routing and handles HTTP requests and responses in a fast and simple way. This framework works inside a Node.js server and would allow you to set up routes to your database easily.

  • React.js: Maintained by Facebook, React.js is a free and open-source front-end library. It will be used to build the UI of the project (which is client-sided). React.js works by using "components", which basically would be pieces of the front-end that we can reuse as wished. We can think of it as puzzle pieces.

Since React.js mainly focuses on state management (and rendering the state to the DOM), React-based applications need to use more libraries to handle other functions as routing, and optional libraries to improve UI effects, form validation, animations, etc.

  • Node.js : It is a JavaScript runtime environment, which will be the back-end of our project.

The main programming language (and only) used MERN is: JavaScript. JSON notation is used to handle the data all over the project too, which goes well alongside JavaScript.

I would say that the main concepts required to build a project like this are: APIs and API calls (fetch, promises, error handling), import/export statements, functions, classes (for efficiency), the npm package and its commands, good practices (always!!) and JSON handling.

Side note: MERN is a variation of the MEAN stack (which traditionally uses Angular.js instead of React.js for the front-end).

MERN project Architecture


MERN projects use a 3-tier architecture -> Front-end, Back-end and Database.

-> Front-End: Constituted with React.js -> Back-End: Includes Express and Node.js -> Database: Which is MongoDB.

Why to build a MERN project?


MERN stack is used to create full-stack web applications with pretty powerful technologies.

All four technologies are easy to set up and well documented. They also solely use JavaScript and JSON notation to write highly efficient code quickly.

There are a lot of resources that can be used with Node.js and Express to handle the HTTP requests and responses, as well than libraries to improve the UI made with React.js. They are open-source too.

Conclusion


All the technologies discussed in the article are free and ready to use from home!

I would like to state that I listed my knowledge on this blog, but I believe that a bigger article could be made about this subject. There is a lot to cover on it.

Thank you for getting trough this article! <3