~ M.E.A.N. stands for: Mongo Database, Express.js, AngularJS, Node.js

A turbulent walk-thru
Or, series of stumbles

As always, there's obviously plenty of resources 'out there' - how else did I learn what I learned, right? These next few posts are meant to point the great whomever in a better direction. The biggest problem w/ learning these new tools for me has been whiling away the hours just trying to answer the simplest of questions. For example, "what the f*() is Express used for?" Or, "Holy sh*(), what do you mean, I have to download a database?"

By the way, all of my examples assume Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

Mongo is a beast
Seriously, I don't know much about it...

Ignorance allowed. MongoDB is not terribly difficult to set up. Everywhere I've been says to do the same thing - just ask the MongoDB people how to set up your sh*().
Go Here

One more thing, download the Mongoose library. It makes things easier to 'interact' with MongoDB. Go figure.
Mongoose.

Starting with the 'E' Express

From what I gather, Express is primarily used to route endpoints. It allows for communication between a database, in this case, Mongo.
Of course, they explain themselves best here, Express.

By the way, use Express 4.x if you can. There's a lot different between it and Express 3.x. By and large, the difference is that the newer version has very few libraries pre-loaded whereas 3.x has, like, everything built in.
Here's more on all those differences.

Express' Directory Layout

You can get your boiler-plate on (I hate that term) by using the 'express-generator'. As with all things, you must also download this b*)*)h. Find out all the details here.
For brevity's sake, the global command is: $ npm install express-generator -g
Don't give me that best practices horsehit, either.

• app.js - launches app, imports server files, configure routes, opens db connections, etc.
• bin/ - container execs. www launches app.js starts Node.js server
• public/ - .js, .css, static files and templates
• routes/ - Node controllers and backend code
• views/ - using .ejs instead of .jade.
• models/ - contains Mongoose scheme definitions

To get your Environment started
so you can actually test stuff

You must, of course, download/setup all the tools.

• create a virtual environment w/ NodeEnv using:

  $ nodeenv <name of your env>

• get mongodb running or stop it using:

  $ sudo service mongod start/stop

• If you don't have npm installed...what the f*() are you doing? Get that sh*t. Now. Search npm install. I refuse to link it. Boom.
• If you don't have Node...best get it, too. Be careful, of course, about which version you're getting. Some of these tutorials require specific versions. If you're using the Thinkster tutorial, you'll need Node.js v7.2.0.
• start your Node server using:

  $ npm start` and listen on port 3000

• Most of the set-up for how the server runs, throws errors, gets its routes, etc. are in the app.js file included in the main directory - this is assuming you've used express-generator, of course.

Oh, by the way, if your dependencies aren't working, and you're like, "what the hell?", try the following:

1. In the CLI, type $ npm install to install whatever is located in your package.json. If you didn't know (I didn't), that's what sets up your entire environment and allows others to work w/ the same versions, libraries, etc. you've used.
2. Stop and restart your server. You can do this using CTRL + C in the CLI and then $ npm start.
3. Re-check that your mongodb is actually running.

Street Cred.
Sometimes costs but is worth it

When it comes down to it, the act of doing tutorials (while sucking) really seems to be the best way to learn this stuff. I was pointed in the direction of Thinkster - they have several, practical tutorials for learning poplular frameworks.

This dude also helped me tons. He's got some seriously good example code. Also, he actually de-mystifies how to fu09c*()ing DELETE things using Mongoose.
Kendrick Coleman

Published: 2017-03-28