Looking to advance your expertise in Node.js? If you’re tired of chaotic online resources, try good old-fashioned books. They will provide you with structured knowledge and give you a clear understanding of even the most complex programming concepts.
Node.js is an asynchronous, event-driven, backend JavaScript runtime designed to develop scalable network applications. As a cross-platform environment, it is able to run on Linux, macOS, Windows, and other platforms.
Node.js is lightning fast, flexible, and easy to learn. It enables building high-performance software, facilitates developing cross-platform applications, comes with tons of reusable code, effectively reduces time-to-market, and is one of the top choices for the IoT industry.
In other words, whether you’re considering learning Node from scratch, climbing up the knowledge ladder, or using Node in your project, you’re on the right path. To speed up your journey, you might want to consult a few authoritative sources, such as Node.js books.
Wait, what?
Indeed, it’s 2023, paper is getting out of fashion, and there’s an abundance of online resources on any imaginable programming problem. Plus, there’s this omniscient AI bot keen on having a chat with you. Anyway, good old books are still worthy of recommending – even to experts in all digital.
Unlike most internet sources, Node.js books will provide you with comprehensive, in-depth, and well-structured knowledge, help you better understand core concepts, and gain valuable insights backed by practical examples.
Top Node.js books to read in 2023
Below you can find our selection of publications on Node.js for beginners, intermediates, and more advanced readers. Pick the best fit for yourself or do your own research, as there are many more valuable titles available in online bookstores.
1. Beginning Node.js – learning Node from scratch
One of the top choices for rookies who want to learn the ropes of working with Node.js. The book will guide you step by step through all the important aspects of developing Node.js applications. It starts with a JavaScript primer and soon moves on to Node.js-related topics, from streams and events to server-side programming and full-stack development. The book is highly approachable and lays out Node.js concepts in a clear way, allowing you to quickly advance from theory to practice. It also provides some original insights unavailable online. As the title suggests, “Beginning Node.js” is suitable for beginners but if you’re totally new to the topic, consider watching a tutorial or two before getting down to reading.
About the author
Basarat Ali Syed is a senior software developer, Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP), and an engineering team lead at Pepperstone.
2. Beginning Node.js, Express & MongoDB Development (or how to build your first web app)
Another good place to start your Node.js adventure. Apart from Node.js, the book’s title hints at Express (Express.js) and MongoDB, the first being a general-purpose document database management platform and a module running on top of Node, and the latter a database program. To create a web application that stores data in MongoDB, you need to use these three together. Lim split each section of his book into concise, easy-to-comprehend fragments giving you clear, practical instructions on how to create a scalable, efficient blog app and deploy it to the internet based on common development patterns. No previous Node.js experience is required, but a basic understanding of programming is highly recommended.
About the author
Greg Lim is a technologist with a many-year experience as a programming teacher at universities and an author of several programming books.
3. Get Programming with Node.js – create your first web server
A good smooth read for beginners looking for a soft entry into the world of Node.js. It will also do the job for experienced developers taking their first steps in this area. The book covers Express, MongoDB, CRUD models, Socket.io, and numerous other Node-related tools. It also deals remarkably well with security and encryption issues. “Get Programming with Node.js” will walk you through eight complete projects, including writing web server code and adding a live chat feature to a web app. By the end of the book, you should be skilled enough to handle server-side development with JavaScript and Node.js and build real-world Node applications. To sum it up, Wexler delivered 400 pages of solid, practical knowledge presented in an easily digestible “to-the-point” style that will keep you engaged all the way through.
About the author
Jonathan Wexler is a senior software engineer at Meta with an extensive background in web development and computer theory.
4. Node Cookbook, 4th Edition – Node development process for newbies and mids
If you’re a fan of the web development cuisine, this cookbook is just for you. Bethany Griggs takes you on a 12-section journey that will teach you handling I/O, using web protocols, developing Node modules, working with web frameworks, deploying microservices, and many more. You’ll also get tons of tips on how to avoid pitfalls, identify bugs in your code, deal with security issues, and deploy your apps to the cloud. Before you know it, you’ll be able to use design patterns to build simple yet scalable web applications. The fourth edition of this nicely crafted guidebook has been updated for the latest Node features and changes in the frameworks. All in all, it’s one of the best Node.js books at the intersection of beginner and intermediary levels.
About the author
Bethany Griggs is a senior software engineer at Red Hat and a Node.js Technical Steering Committee member, involved with the Node.js project since 2016.
5. Automating with Node.js – automate your workflow with Node tricks and design patterns
Here comes a treat for more advanced web developers. Shaun Stone proposes an original approach to leveraging Node.js knowledge. The main goal of his book is to help readers automate their workflow with Node-based methods and techniques. Cause why wear yourself out with a multitude of menial, repetitive tasks like zipping files or sending e-mails if you can hand them over to a computer program and focus on more demanding projects? The first part of the book showcases various Node’s automation capabilities. The second part brings those concepts together to develop an automation tool for a web-based Rock Paper Scissors game. “Automating with Node.js” is both enlightening and entertaining with heaps of practical examples, carefully explained code, good writing style, and a touch of humor. It will make for good reading and help you hone your web development skills.
About the author
Shaun Michael Stone is a senior technical lead at Nutmeg and a writer with over 10-year experience in web development.
6. Mastering Node.js (second edition) – a hands-on guide for advanced developers
If you’re a JS pro looking to level up, this book might come in handy. It covers a range of Node.js features that facilitate writing highly concurrent full-stack web applications. “Mastering Node.js” will provide you with in-depth insights on parallel data processing, asynchronous programming, event loops, and a lot of practical problem-solving know-how. You’ll learn how to leverage Node to build a desktop app for file system management, a customer service application, Amazon Lambda-based serverless applications, and many more. Ultimately, you’ll be able to build web servers and create scalable applications with the most efficient code. The book, which is essentially targeted at JavaScript developers, contains lots of deployment examples and lucid explanations of advanced concepts.
About the authors
Sandro Pasquali is a director of software architecture at WW and the author of 3 Node.js books. Kevin Faaborg is a head of product and engineering at Rad NFTV and a Harvard graduate.
7. Distributed Systems with Node.js – learn to write even better real-world production applications with Node
You need to be a professional Node developer capable of writing server-side JavaScript apps to fully appreciate this gem of a book. “Distributed Systems with Node.js” is an in-depth guide to building enterprise-ready backend services providing developers with best practices for production. It serves as an insightful introduction to the development of distributed systems and proves the point that Node.js is at least on par with traditional enterprise platforms when it comes to building services that are scalable, resilient, and observable. The book is really well-paced and even though its content is on the advanced side, it will keep a focused reader engaged and hungry for more.
About the author
Thomas Hunter II is a software engineer specializing in Node.js, an international speaker, and a published author.
Find more Node.js books online
This is just a small sample of great Node.js books available to buy online. You can do your own research to find more titles that will be the right fit for your needs. Remember to check ratings and read opinions. Also, pay attention to release dates. The more advanced you are, the more you should aim for the latest editions. Node.js hasn’t shape-shifted, but it has evolved over the years, and recent publications include relevant changes.
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