
Ask HN: Interested in an e-book on building web apps with Node.js and React? - hobonumber1
Hey guys,<p>I just wanted to gauge interest levels in an e-book that goes through building a complete web application using React and NodeJS?<p>It would explain how to:<p>- Create a webserver with user authentication 
- Hook up and work with databases via an ORM.
- Generate API endpoints 
- Connect API Endpoints with a front-end framework like React
- Explain how React and Flux works with APIs
- Tips and Best Practices on building out a CRUD application using this framework
- Security 
- Maintenance
- Best practices in Production<p>Questions:
1) Would you be interested? 
2) Would you pay for it if it was good, and had sample chapters? 
3) Where do you get this information now?
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hobonumber1
Just to add why I'm asking this:

I've just been building stuff out in Node/JS-land for a while and just want to
give something back to the community. So I'm thinking about starting an e-book
or a series of blog posts to educate people in things that I've learned.
Learning people's use cases gives me a better understanding of how I can write
things that genuinely solve pain points.

I would really appreciate it if people could PM me some type of contact info
so I can keep in touch with anyone who is interested. My email is
tilomitra[at]gmail[dot]com.

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FLGMwt
I'd pay for it even if it was just empty repo => dumb site _w / user auth_.
Haven't found a good concise tutorial for that.

~~~
pps
[https://www.udemy.com/react-redux-tutorial/](https://www.udemy.com/react-
redux-tutorial/)

Section 6 & 7 - maybe this is what you are looking for?

~~~
ConnorLeet
The tutorial you linked definitely requires a good grasp on React & Redux, I
suggest starting with this course: [https://www.udemy.com/react-
redux/](https://www.udemy.com/react-redux/)

Udemy frequently has sales on holidays and all courses are ~$15

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AbhishekDutt
There are people with all kinds of experience level, someone would definitely
find it useful.

I did build a complete web app (basically a Reddit clone) in NodeJs from
scratch recently (though Angular2 instead of React), most of the things that
you described in your book's contents were in the official documentation or
tutorials (and Stack overflow).

Still, I don't know things like server-side rendering, and although I was able
to configure SystemJs I have no idea how to configure it (or its de/merits
over bable/webpack), 3rd party authentication (Google/FB login) was a pain,
and now I realize I should have used the Flux architecture and also used TDD.
But then all this is just a google search away anyway.

However, I would have paid for the book you describe if a) I wasn't broke, b)
was just beginning with web dev, c) the book built a complete nontrivial app
(something like the Meteor/Telescope).

PS: Which nodeJs framework would you suggest/use?

~~~
hobonumber1
I would recommend SailsJS. It's built with Express, so you get the Express
ecosystem, but it comes with a lot of things that production-apps need out of
the box, like security (CORS, CSRF), REST API generation, code conventions
(models, controllers, views), etc.

I believe they went through YC, actually.

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soneca
Yes.

Yes, after an introdutory free and useful by itself chapter/course.

Constantly looking for this kind of learning resource right now. I had a very
good experience with this one:
[http://trysparkschool.com](http://trysparkschool.com)

In my personal case, as I'm learning to code from scratch, it is essential
that the course do not assume too much about my previous knowledge. Check the
Twitter course. It teaches me how to install everything from the most basic
tools, like Terminal. It actually taught me what Terminal is.

I hope you do it, I very much need it. Get my email at the profile and please
let me know if you do it. Good luck!

~~~
hobonumber1
Thank you for your feedback!

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probably_wrong
Not really.

A book is by definition 90+ pages long (probably a lot more). I will only want
that much information if I'm completely new to the area.

I have never used Node.js nor React, but I did a fair amount of web design. A
book will feel slow and repetitive.

Case in point: the last book I read was about Opencl. About a whole Chapter
was dedicated to configuration parameters and C data types. I know that stuff
has to be there in case the book is your only reference, but otherwise I can
just check the Internet for that.

I know lots of people like technical books for pretty much the same reasons I
don't, so keep that in mind too.

------
aarohmankad
I would love to read this if you published it! I would pay for something that
was really well written (gauged off of sample chapters). I would probably only
pay around $5 for it.

Most importantly, if there was a way for you to host the ebook online and
provide a way for someone to type code into your website and mess around with
the source code. Think like Codecademy, with code on one side and the result
on the other.

------
jetti
I would definitely be interested if you threw Electron in as well. I would pay
$20-$30 for an ebook on that as I'm struggling with getting React to work with
Electron and all the tutorials have their stuff just work and it doesn't work
for me when copying what they have. It is beyond frustrating!

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wflann
Yes--absolutely. There are a lot of video tutorials for React, but it feels
that there's a lack of written guides at the moment. Not everyone learns best
from videos, so having more choices to learn is huge. You should go for it.

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angry-hacker
I don't want to sound snarky but I'm interested in ebook of writing web
apps/pages in old ways. Send a request, receive a request without js. :))

~~~
hobonumber1
Are you talking about server-rendered websites with NodeJS?

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paulcole
No thank you. This isn't of interest to me.

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lemiffe
Yes please, learning react and modern JS (coming from a simple jQuery
background) has been hellish.

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DRickson
NodeJS is generally not an appropriate backend choice given the dynamic nature
of the language. I would not be interested and would hope that it comes with
warnings that such development stacks are usually only appropriate for small
projects if at all.

~~~
DRickson
I don't see why this is getting downvoted so heavily. OP asked a question and
I gave an honest answer. Most people here understand that dynamic languages
are a bad choice for big projects so I don't see why that would get downvoted
either (even if I were wrong, I believe the rules state that downvoting isn't
for things you disagree with, but things that add no value to the discussion).

~~~
brudgers
I suspect that the reason it is downvoted is because there is a strong claim
that is not supported by examples, rationals, or reasons. In addition I
suspect that the technical claim is contrary to some people's experience. I
suspect that it's boldness and absent support are likely to correlate with
poor internet behavior in other people's experience.

The guidelines do not advise people not to downvote for disagreement. The
guidelines do ask people not complain about them.

