During my explorations of Node.js, I came across many excellent resources, references, tutorials, and various other online publications related to the technology. I had planned on incorporating this material into an appendix for Learning Node but decided it would make a better online resource than a book chapter.
Every person interested in Node should start with the Node.js web site, as well as the web site for npm, the application that manages Node module installations:
After denouncing the use of Ruby and Rails terms to describe Node and Node modules, I must now confess that I did use a Rails resource in the section on MVC in Chapter 6.
The Rails Guide has an absolutely beautifully written overview on MVC and routing, Rails Routing from the Outside In, I used as inspiration for the design of the MVC section in Chapter 6.
However, in my defense I'll note that most of this overview really doesn't depend on knowing either Ruby or Rails in order to benefit from the writing. It simply and easily demonstrates a mapping between HTTP verbs, routes, controller actions, and database CRUD (Create-Read-Update-Delete) probably better than anything else I've ever read.
The Learning Node book is far enough along so that I can publish the Table of Contents for the book and it shouldn't differ significantly from the TOC for the book when it's finished. The chapters with an expanded TOC are those already finished—the rest are still in work. Before I print out the TOC, though, I thought I'd write about some of the underlying themes that helped define the book structure and determine the direction of the writing.
The primary theme behind the book is simple: you don't have to have prior experience working with Ruby or Rails in order to understand this book.
