Exit Ticket Solutions: `async/await` and Express

# Exit Ticket Solutions: `async/await` and Express **You should be able to:** - Describe the role of a client, a server, and HTTP - Describe Express middleware, requests, and responses - Handle URL params in an Express route - Know when and why you would use app.use and next in your Express app - Explain the purpose of using async/await & promises ## In your own words, what is a server? - **A HTTP server listens for HTTP requests and sends HTTP responses.** - Or more generically, a computer that is listening in for requests to provide respones - ***Reference:*** - [MDN: What is a web server?](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/Common_questions/What_is_a_web_server) ## What is the purpose of the `package.json` file in a Node project? - Store a list of dependencies for the project - Give the project a name - Store metadata about the project - **All of the above** ☑️ - None of the above - ***Reference:*** - See the section "Properties of a package.json file" [here](https://dev.to/easybuoy/understanding-the-package-json-file-3fdg). - [Node: What is the file `package.json`?](https://nodejs.org/en/knowledge/getting-started/npm/what-is-the-file-package-json/) ## What is Express? - **Node web framework for handling requests** ☑️ - _Provides mechanisms to:_ - Write handlers for requests with different HTTP verbs at different URL paths (routes) - Set common web application settings like the port to use for connecting - Add additional request processing “middleware” at any point within the request handling pipeline - JavaScript runtime environment - JavaScript library for building user interfaces - An ORM - ***References:*** - [Express.js documentation](https://expressjs.com/) - [MDN: Express/Node introduction](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/Introduction) - [tutorialspoint: ExpressJS Overview](https://www.tutorialspoint.com/expressjs/expressjs_overview.htm) ## Which of the following statements are true about Express Middleware? - **An example of it could be app.use** ☑️ - **It happens between the request and response** ☑️ - Only one middleware function can be called per request-response cycle - An example of it could be app.get ☑️ - **Note: We had a discussion on this. Technically, Express is one big middleware library. We can achieve writing routes in Node, but Express makes it easier by letting us write these neat little functions referring to the HTTP verbs. Express is built on top of Node and leverages Node. So, because of this, we can technically say that Express sits in between the request and response, which by default means so do the Express functions that represent HTTP verbs (i.e., `.get`)** - [Express Docs](https://expressjs.com/en/guide/using-middleware.html): "Express is a routing and middleware web framework that has minimal functionality of its own: An Express application is essentially a series of middleware function calls." - It sometimes runs after the response is sent - ***References:*** - [Express: Using middleware](https://expressjs.com/en/guide/using-middleware.html) - [Express: Writing middleware for use in Express apps](https://expressjs.com/en/guide/writing-middleware.html) - [Express: `app.use()`](https://expressjs.com/en/4x/api.html#app.use) - ***A function that receives the request and response objects of an HTTP request/response cycle (i.e. `(req, res, next) => {...}`).*** ## What is a Promise? - A function that runs asynchronous code - A keyword that marks a function as having asynchronous code - A callback function that executes after an asynchronous operation finishes - **An object that represents the eventual completion of an asynchronous operation and its resulting value** ☑️ - ***Reference:*** - [MDN: Using Promises](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Using_promises)