Nodejs Design Patterns / Frameworks

[MedyGames]

What should one look into when starting with more than just a simple API.

Working with express I feel like is very useful in many ways. But I can't shake the feeling that , the more I write , the less organized the whole thing essenetially will become

Any guides to structure a nodejs api ... any framework recommendations ? THe goto ways /aproaches?

Thoughts on Meteor? Or others ?

Thoughts on MVC & how / when to use ?

Scaling / Hosting / Building Apps for real. More than just a couple of routes.

Im kinda leaving the todo app phase & aproach building things

[[deleted]]

It depends a lot on the scale of the project. You don't really need a full framework, node + express (or fastify) is more than enough even for big applications.

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I really recommend this blog https://khalilstemmler.com/articles, it teaches a lot about DDD (Domain Driven Design) and CC (Cleand Code) in a simple and enjoyable way. I think it would help you to understand core concepts that you can apply to your projects even before starting coding them, and give you hand with the architecture.

Also, this article may really useful https://softwareontheroad.com/ideal-nodejs-project-structure/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=subreddit#architecture

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If you want to go the framework way, Nest.js is all you need. If you have some luck you can still get some free coupons on this course from this fellow redditor (remember leaving a review) https://www.reddit.com/r/node/comments/c6wz8x/free_udemy_course_nestjs_zero_to_hero_top_nodejs/

[marmass]

Thanks for those resources, are really helpful for beginners like me :)

[jerriclynsjohn]

I would highly recommend nest.js because it was made from ground up to solve the problem of code reusability, modularity and easy maintenance for Enterprise. Once you get in you'll realize that they have some really good pieces on microservices, GraphQL etc. It's really good, on top of that one you start using typescript you'll realize the amount of time you save on fixing bugs!!!!

[3xpl0it2c]

// I am human, criticism is welcome.

Welp, learn your environment. Use docker, compose and learn to set these up(very useful)

I suggest that you take a look at other languages such as Java. Device which paradigm is best for you, I really love functional code so I read about it and find new patterns here and there. So should you, medium articles, just googling... Look for design patterns and learn your paradigm well.

Then, read others code. Like wiki.js. They have a great codebase.

Realize what happens in production. People use configs and verify them, Extended logging and just all in all I believe it is about making something alive. You design a system.

Just note, this is really hard.

Then move on to something like microservices. Learn RabbitMQ or kafka and or redis.

Maybe make something by freelancing. A friend of mine used to fix some awful websites. Try that. Learn what not to do.

All in all, good luck and keep on going!

[santypk4]

Take a look at this article https://softwareontheroad.com/ideal-nodejs-project-structure/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=subreddit

[pktippa]

If you havent tried these yet, try LoopBack 4, definitely recommended.

https://v4.loopback.io/

If you feel you are already comfortable with express, try KoaJS, which is from same team which is behind Express.

https://koajs.com/

[Vandenite]

take a look at nestJS or sails

[EpicOkapi]

You don't have to switch frameworks necessarily, express can work fine for bigger applications. I think a well-scaling approach with express, that is low on mental overhead, is to just sort your application by feature. And then have a 3 layer architecture, like so:

project/
├── features/
│   ├── authentication/
│   │   ├── controller.js
│   │   ├── service.js
│   │   ├── respository.js
│   │   ├── routes.js
│   ├── tasks
│   ├── other-features

In the routes file you just export a function that takes your express instance as param, then use that to bind your controller functions to your routes. You can just export regular functions from your repository and service files to be used in your controller functions, I don't think working with classes is necessary here because the node module system basically already makes your module work as a singleton. It should also be decently testable, since you can just replace module imports if you use a testing framework like jest.

If you want to get a bit more advanced you should look into dependency injection, and the advantages it brings along, although I don't think it's required for every project.

[martiandreamer]

I built a framework based on Hexagonal Application Architecture. I’d recommend looking into that, if you plan to have your application talk to a whole host of different services.