Week 1

In this session we will focus on Express.js as a framework for building HTTP APIs. Instead of writing everything from scratch in Node, we will use Express to structure routes, plug in middleware, and handle requests and responses in a predictable way – including using clear status codes and basic error handling.

Contents

• Preparation
• Session Plan (for mentors)
• Assignment

Session Learning Goals

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

• Explain what Express is and describe why it is used for building backend applications.
• Implement routing in Express to handle GET HTTP requests, endpoints and parameters.
• Use logging and debugging tools to monitor and troubleshoot Node.js applications.
• Apply middleware functions in Express to process and transform requests and responses.
• Design and implement basic error handling for HTTP APIs using appropriate status codes.
• Use Postman to send requests to your Express API and inspect responses.