Node.js Crash Course

A hands-on exploration of vanilla Node.js fundamentals, covering core built-in modules, event-driven architecture, and building a dynamic HTTP web server from scratch without external framework abstractions (like Express).

🚀 Features

• Custom Static File Server: An HTTP web server built entirely with the native http, path, and fs modules that serves HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and images dynamically.
• Robust Content-Type Handling: Automatic inspection of file extensions to map and append correct MIME content types to server responses.
• Custom Error Views: Graceful handling of server exceptions, including a dedicated 404 Not Found fallback routing system and 500 Server Error diagnostics.
• Event-Driven Logging System: A custom message logger class that extends the native EventEmitter and utilizes uuid to dispatch tracking IDs alongside log events.
• Core Module Experiments: In-depth terminal-driven walkthroughs of Node's integrated subsystems: fs, path, os, url, and events.

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📂 Project Structure

├── reference/                  # Core Module Sandbox Scripts
│   ├── path_demo.js            # Path parsing and normalization
│   ├── fs_demo.js              # File system CRUD actions (async)
│   ├── os_demo.js              # System architecture & hardware metadata
│   ├── url_demo.js             # URL string parsing & parameter appending
│   ├── http_demo.js            # Barebones HTTP instantiation
│   └── event_demo.js           # Native event hook-ins
├── public/                     # Front-End Static Web Assets
│   ├── css/
│   │   └── style.css           # Global views styling
│   ├── index.html              # Landing Page view
│   ├── about.html              # About Page view
│   └── 404.html                # Error page fallback view
├── index.js                    # Main server application entry point
├── logger.js                   # Custom UUID-integrated event logger
├── package.json                # Project script workflows & dependencies
└── README.md                   # Project documentation

🛠️ Installation & Setup
Ensure you have Node.js installed on your machine.

Clone the repository and navigate into the root directory:

Bash
git clone [https://github.com/jessebaugh/nodeCrashCourse.git](https://github.com/jessebaugh/nodeCrashCourse.git)
cd nodeCrashCourse
Install local project dependencies:
This will install runtime packages (like uuid) and development tools (like nodemon).

Bash
npm install
⚙️ Running the Application
The workflow environment is controlled via scripts defined inside package.json:

Development Environment (With Hot-Reloading)
To launch the server using nodemon (which automatically watches for file changes and restarts the runtime), run:

Bash
npm run dev
Production Environment
To start the application normally without continuous reload monitoring:

Bash
npm start
Once running, open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost:5001 to interact with the deployed pages.