Author: Azat

Techies, entrepreneur, 20+ years in tech/IT/software/web development expert: NodeJS, JavaScript, MongoDB, Ruby on Rails, PHP, SQL, HTML, CSS. 500 Startups (batch Fall 2011) alumnus. http://azat.co http://github.com/azat-co

MongoUI: Real-Time MongoDB Admin Web Interface (a la phpMyAdmin in Node.js)

MongoUI is a real-time web interface for Node.js and MongoDB written with DerbyJS—a real-time full-stack web framework. It’s a app that can be run locally and on the server. Similarly, you can view and manipulate data in a local or remote database. The MongoUI project is in beta so use caution, and please contribute your feedback.

MongoUI on NPM: https://www.npmjs.org/package/mongoui

MongoUI on GitHub: https://github.com/azat-co/mongoui

MongoUI description (this page): http://webapplog.com/mongoui

MongoUI features include:

  • Switch databases and collections
  • Search by field value (string, number, ObjectId)
  • Save search / filter results as a bookmark (each URL has a query)
  • Edit any fields’ values in a real-time editor
  • Get raw JSON objects

Here’s a one-and-a-half-minute video that shows filtering, editing, and switching collections:

Direct link to the YouTube video: http://youtu.be/l8Rfpow0f9A.

Continue reading “MongoUI: Real-Time MongoDB Admin Web Interface (a la phpMyAdmin in Node.js)”

You’re Wasting $10,000 to $130,000!

Yes, you’ve read it right! You can be wasting anywhere from $10,000 to $130,000 right now by not sharing your technical expertise with others. In other words, you can keep the money by writing about tech. All this is doable while keeping your full-time job. You think it’s impossible? That programmers like to pay nothing for resources? Think again, because hundreds of authors already did it, with outliers like Nathan Barry and Sacha Greif making six figures. The best part is that (after the info product is ready) it’s mostly passive income!

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CoffeeScript: The Good Parts

It’s not a secret that the topic of CoffeeScript is controversial to say the least. Many reputable JavaScript and Node.js developers just hate CoffeeScript, but there are lessons we can all learn from its good parts! However, many developers just won’t go back to plain JavaScript after building something relatively serious with CoffeeScript.

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Introduction to OAuth with Node.js and Online Subscription—RELEASED!

The much-needed Introduction to OAuth with Node.js mini-book is released!

Introduction to OAuth with Node.js
Introduction to OAuth with Node.js: Twitter API OAuth 1.0, OAuth 2.0, OAuth Echo, Everyauth and OAuth 2.0 Server Examples

Get your PDF, EPUB, MOBI copy here –> gum.co/hRyc…
or sign up for Node.js and JavaScript Mastery Online here.

The online bundle has five (5!) books. Here’s the list of available books. It’s a $50+ value for only $4.87/mo.

Node.js and JavaScript Mastery Online: Colored code examples—paste into your projects!
Node.js and JavaScript Mastery Online: Colored code examples—paste into your projects!

If you read all the books in less than a month—great! Just cancel the subscription. But most readers prefer to keep it just so they have a handy reference when they need it.

The Introduction to OAuth book includes:

  • OAuth 1.0
  • OAuth Echo
  • OAuth 2.0
  • OAuth 1.0 Sign in with Everyauth
  • OAuth 2.0 Server

A typical modern web applications has to communicate with other services. Even if it’s your own service or application. This is usually done via an open standard for authorization or OAuth. Therefore, the ability to use OAuth in your work is paramount!

There are standards, specifications and fancy diagrams, and it’s useful to read them as the first step. However, developers often need hands-on experience to acquire the full understanding and confidence.

Introduction to OAuth in Node.js is a concise practical book that will help you to get started with OAuth 1.0, 2.0, Echo and implement a Sign in with Node.js using Twitter API (and hopefully any other) authentication.

We’ll go through the three main authentication methods utilizing minimalistic oauth module to explain basics, then use extensive everyauth with an Express.js app.

Get your PDF, EPUB, MOBI copy here –> gum.co/hRyc…
or sign up for Node.js and JavaScript Mastery Online here.

Intro to OAuth with Node.js: OAuth 1.0 (One-Legged)

This text is part of Introduction to OAuth with Node.js mini-book which is available at gum.co/hRyc.

Introduction to OAuth with Node.js
Introduction to OAuth with Node.js: Twitter API OAuth 1.0, OAuth 2.0, OAuth Echo, Everyauth and OAuth 2.0 Server Examples

Let’s start with good old OAuth 1.0. The way it usually works is as follows:

  1. For the first time, when we authorize a user to use our app, we need to perform extra work and obtain access token and secret (three-legged).
  2. You store these values for each user in your application.
  3. Then, on subsequent requests, things become much simpler. We construct auth headers and make HTTP requests (one-legged).

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Practical Node.js is Ready!

My latest book about Node.js is ready (Jul, 2014)!

Practical Node.js was designed to be a one-stop source for going from hello-world examples to building apps in a professional manner. The libraries covered in Practical Node.js greatly enhance the quality of code and make developers more productive.

You can get it on Amazon, B&N and Apress directly. Also, Apress has the ebooks in all formats.

The book’s website is at practicalnodebook.com. And the examples’ code is freely available at github.com/azat-co/practicalnode.

Why Node Program is Different

Node Program is the  fastest and most engaging way  to get started with Node.js, MongoDB and Express.js. It’s an  intensive  weekend-long  live course  taught in the Bay Area by skilled experts who have run Node.js in production  for years!

Node Program is the ultimate way to get up and running with the foundations of Node.js, by learning the required foundational skills to use Node.js! Learn more about our approach and curriculum.

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The Nastiest Little Secret

The nastiest little secret about software engineering job search, in any time and geolocation that I’ve seen: virtually everybody wants senior developers. So there’s very little chase to get into the industry. One theory this catch 22 happens is because senior software engineers are 10-20x more productive with only 10-30% more pay. Or at least that’s what most of the companies think. I’m not sure this is true 100% of the time. Therefore, if you are a junior developer—fake it till you make it. Most of us have been there. Become an expert in one field, and make a name for yourself. Then the companies will fight for you. Networking also helps. You need to be considered for the job before the job opening has been posted to the company’s website.

Seven Things You Should Stop Doing with Node.js

Inspired by 5 Things You Should Stop Doing With jQuery by Burke Holland, I decided to open a discussion and highlight seven things you should immediately stop doing with Node.js:

  1. Stop using callbacks
  2. Stop using * for versions
  3. Stop using console.log for debugging
  4. Stop using GET and POST for everything
  5. Stop using semicolons
  6. Stop using comma-first style
  7. Stop limiting your connections with default maxSockets value

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Node Program Announcement: Intensive Node.js, MongoDB and Express.js Course in The Bay Area

We’re glad to announce intensive Node.js, MongoDB and Express.js course in the Bay Area — Node Program.

Node Program (np): Intensive Node.js, MongoDB and Express.js Course in The Bay Area
Node Program (np): Intensive Node.js, MongoDB and Express.js Course in The Bay Area

The July 2014 course has only 10 seats (only 10 students!), and the registration will be open from 6/11/2014 9am PT to 07/21/2014 11:30pm PT.

If you would like to get updates about Node Program, sign up for our email list.

WHAT IS NODE PROGRAM?

Node Program is the fastest and most engaging way to get started with Node.js, MongoDB and Express.js. It’s an intensive weekend-long live course taught in the Bay Area by skilled experts who have run Node.js in production for years! Node Program is the ultimate way to get up and running with the foundations of Node.js, by learning the required foundational skills to use Node.js!

NODE PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

  • Engaging: Live experience learning from instructors, mentors and peers
  • Customized: Uniquely tailored to your needs; treat us as your consultants and coaches!
  • Convenient: One weekend (16h), no need to take PTO or travel (Bay Area)
  • Limited: Only 10 seats in each course; students undergo application process to insure they get the maximum out of the program and plenty of individualized attention
  • Exclusive: The course will be repeated only 6 times
  • Tested: Instructors have years of practical experience with Node.js and materials have been carefully developed and tested for success
  • Practical: Students will walk out with multiple Node.js apps (projects)
  • Transferable: Node Program is non-refundable because we want 100% commitment from students; but in the case of unforeseen circumstances you can transfer registration to another person before the deadline.

For more information, go to the event page.

JavaScript and Node FUNdamentals is Finished

JavaScript and Node FUNdamentals: A Collection of Essential Basics is a short read to brush up and refresh JavaScript and Node.js topics including frameworks like CoffeeScript, Backbone.js and Express.js. The motto of the book is “If it’s not fun, it’s not JavaScript.”

JavaScript and Node FUNdamentals: A Collection of Essential Basics
JavaScript and Node FUNdamentals: A Collection of Essential Basics

JavaScript and Node FUNdamentals has these chapters:

  1. JavaScript FUNdamentals: The Powerful and Misunderstood Language of The Web
  2. CoffeeScript FUNdamentals: The Better JavaScript
  3. Backbone.js FUNdamentals: The Cornerstone of JavaScript MV* Frameworks
  4. Node.js FUNdamentals: JavaScript on The Server
  5. Express.js FUNdamentals: The Most Popular Node.js Framework

The book is available on Amazon.com (Kindle) and LeanPub (MOBI, PDF, EPUB).

Continue reading “JavaScript and Node FUNdamentals is Finished”

Intellect as an Impediment to Successful Marketing and Selling

After watching The Foundation video it struck me that an intellect can be an impediment to successful marketing and selling. I’ve heard some variation of this before but the aforementioned video was an aha moment when it all came together.

Have you ever heard about the curse of knowledge? Or cognitive bias? Basically, if a person knows something he/she assumes that everybody else also know that. This leads to omissions, assumptions and messages that don’t reach target audience. And it’s not because the average audience is stupider in general, they’re just not so fluent in this particular narrow topic and your language (The Secret Language Of Millionaires in the video). I have to fight myself tooth and nail with this bias when I’m writing my programming books!

Sharing my musings on Twitter led me to Steve Jobs who no doubt was intelligent and very good at marketing:

I think smart people have to work extremely hard to “dumb” down their marketing messages. A good example is the original Apple iPod ad that used X number of songs instead of Y number of Megabytes.

Original Apple iPod
Original Apple iPod

Another revelation was that all this time many people that I know (startupers) and I were doing it all wrong. Almost always we start with products instead of starting with problems. In the best case, we pick out our own problems to solve (some do it successfully, like Evernote founders). But where are the guarantees that our problems are not just emotionally exaggerated and the market for them is big enough? Instead we should identify the pain points first and try to pre-sell. Yes, pre-selling (before building) can solve this dilemma. Let consumers vote with their wallets (actually debit/credit cards). What if we can’t sell our service or product without it being ready, or without all the fluff like a catchy domain name, fabulous design, beautiful logo and half-a-dozen social media profiles? Then, the problem is not too big for us to work on it anyway. Not all ideas should be executed and not all problems are worth solving. :-)

Last night, I did exactly that. I created a Gumroad page for Introduction to Express.js video course. It took me half an hour, and it already has sales! The conclusion is to go lean early or suffer later.

CoffeeScript FUNdamentals: The Better JavaScript

Disclaimer: This text is a part of the JavaScript and Node FUNdamentals: A Collection of Essential Basics ebook which is available now for free. However, upon the book’s completion it’ll be priced at $2.99. The book is 80% done as of this writing. The formats available: PDF, EPUB and Kindle. If you would like to participate in the writing process by providing your feedback and future topics, fill this short Future Topics and Feedback form.

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Practical Node.js TOC

As the Apress team of technical reviewers and copy editors and I make progress on the Practical Node.js manuscript, the date of the publication approaches fast. Last time I checked it was June 2014.

Practical Node.js: Building Real-world Scalable Web Apps
Practical Node.js: Building Real-world Scalable Web Apps

Many people ask me: how is the process compared to self-publishing? Is it worth the hassle?

So far, I can say only good things about my editors and the process of traditional publishing itself. I’m impressed about so many things I’ve already learned about structuring and technical writing. I feel like it enormously improved my style. There is more on this in my new meta book&resource ProgWriter.

As a sneak peek, here’s the tentative Table of Contents for the Practical Node.js book:

  1. Setting up Node.js and Other Essentials
  2. Using Express.js to Create Node.js Web Apps
  3. TDD and BDD for Node.js with Mocha
  4. Template Engines: Jade and Handlebars
  5. Persistence with MongoDB and Mongoskin
  6. Using Sessions and OAuth to Authorize and Authenticate Users in Node.js Apps
  7. Boosting Your Node.js Data with the Mongoose ORM Library
  8. Building Node.js REST API Servers with Express.js and Hapi
  9. Real-time Apps with WebSockets, Socket.IO and DerbyJS
  10. Getting Node.js Apps Production Ready
  11. Deploying Node.js Apps
  12. Publishing Node.js Modules and Contributing to Open Source

The good thing is that people who want to get the book first don’t have to wait ’til the book is released. They can pre-order the book on Amazon, or even better get access to the alpha version at Apress!

The alpha version will be release chapter by chapter starting in the next few weeks!

Migrating Express.js 3.x to 4.x: Middleware, Route and Other Changes

Express.js 4 is the latest (as of May 2014) version of the most popular mature and robust Node.js framework for web apps, services and APIs. There are some breaking changes going from 3.x to 4.x, so here’s a brief migration guide:

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Express.js 4, Node.js and MongoDB REST API Tutorial

Usually good things don’t stay the same, so our tutorial on building a JSON REST API server with Node.js and MongoDB using Mongoskin and Express.js, and testing it with Mocha and Superagent, has became a bit outdated with the new Express.js 4 version release. Here’s a brand new, revisited tutorial for Express.js 4, Node.js and MongoDB (Mongoskin) free-JSON RESTful API server.

The code for this new tutorial is available at github.com/azat-co/rest-api-express (master branch). The old tutorial’s code for Express 3.x, is still working and in the express3 branch.

Express.js 4 and MongoDB REST API Tutorial consists of these parts:

  1. Node.js and MongoDB REST API Overview
  2. REST API Tests with Mocha and Superagent
  3. NPM-ing Node.js Server Dependencies
  4. Express.js 4.x Middleware Caveat
  5. Express.js and MongoDB (Mongoskin) Implementation
  6. Running The Express.js 4 App and Testing MongoDB Data with Mocha
  7. Conclusion and Further Express.js and Node.js Reading

Instead of TL;DR:

If you’re only interested in a working code from the repository and know what to do, here are brief instructions on how to download and run the REST API server:

$ git clone git@github.com:azat-co/rest-api-express.git
$ npm install
$ node express.js

Start MongoDB with $ mongod. Then, in a new terminal window run the Mocha tests:

$ mocha express.test.js

Or, if you don’t have mocha installed globally:

$ ./node_modules/mocha/bin/mocha express.test.js

Node.js and MongoDB REST API Overview

This Node.js, Express.js and MongoDB (Mongoskin) tutorial will walk you through writing the test using the Mocha and Super Agent libraries. This is needed for a test-driven development building of a Node.js free JSON REST API server.

The server application itself will utilize Express.js 4.x framework and Mongoskin library for MongoDB. In this REST API server, we’ll perform create, read, update and delete (CRUD) operations and harness Express.js middleware concept with app.param() and app.use() methods.

First of all, make sure you have MongoDB installed. You can follow the steps on the official website.

We’ll be using the following versions of libraries:

  • express: ~4.1.1
  • body-parser: ~1.0.2
  • mongoskin: ~1.4.1
  • expect.js: ~0.3.1
  • mocha: ~1.18.2
  • superagent: ~0.17.0

If you try to attempt to use later or older versions the code might not work. :-(

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