Web Development (Back -End) Course

Module 1: Introduction to Back-End Development

• What is Back-End Development?

• Difference between Front-End, Back-End, and Full Stack

• Roles and responsibilities of a Back-End Developer

• Overview of technologies: Node.js, Express.js, MongoDB, Next.js (API routes)

• Introduction to RESTful APIs and HTTP basics

• Setting up the development environment (Node.js, MongoDB, VS Code, Postman)

Module 2: Node.js Fundamentals

• What is Node.js and its architecture?

• Understanding asynchronous, non-blocking I/O

• Node.js core modules: fs, path, http, url, events

• Reading and writing files using callbacks and promises

• Using environment variables and creating .env files

• NPM basics and creating a package.json file

Module 3: Express.js – Web Framework for Node.js

• What is Express and why use it?

• Creating a basic Express server

• Route handling (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE)

• Middleware concepts: built-in, third-party, and custom middleware

• Parsing request bodies with body-parser and express.json()

• Serving static files with Express

• Error handling middleware

• Router modularization (using Express Routers)

Module 4: MongoDB and Mongoose

• Introduction to NoSQL databases and MongoDB

• Setting up MongoDB locally and with MongoDB Atlas

• MongoDB shell and GUI tools (MongoDB Compass)

• Introduction to Mongoose ODM

• Creating schemas and models

• Performing CRUD operations with Mongoose:

  • Create (.save(), .create())

  • Read (.find(), .findById())

  • Update (.findByIdAndUpdate())

  • Delete (.findByIdAndDelete())

Module 5: Building RESTful APIs (Express + MongoDB)

• REST architecture principles

• Designing API endpoints for real-world entities (e.g., users, posts, products)

• Working with query parameters and URL params

• Status codes and response patterns

• Handling errors with custom error classes and centralized error handlers

• Testing APIs using Postman

Module 6: User Authentication and Authorization

• What is authentication vs authorization?

• Password hashing with bcryptjs

• JWT (JSON Web Tokens) for sessionless auth

• Login and registration API flows

• Securing routes using middleware

• Role-based access control

• Token expiration and refresh strategies (optional)

Module 7: Next.js API Routes (Back-End with Next)

• Introduction to Next.js API routes

• Folder structure and routing in /pages/api

• Creating serverless functions (API handlers)

• Working with dynamic API routes

• Connecting MongoDB within Next.js API routes

• Comparison with Express.js: When to use what