• What is Backend? Client-Server model

• Why Node.js for backend?

• Installing Node.js & npm

• Running your first Node.js program

• Node.js REPL & global objects (__dirname, __filename, process)
  Practice Exercises:
  Print your name and current date in Node.js.
  Write a CLI program that greets the user.

• File System (fs) – read/write files

• Path module – handling file paths

• OS module – system info

• Events module – event emitters & listeners

• Creating a simple HTTP server
  Practice Exercises:
  Create a server that responds with “Hello World”.
  Create a custom event emitter “userLoggedIn”.
  Log system CPU & memory info.

• Sync vs Async

• Callbacks & Callback Hell

• Promises (then/catch)

• async/await

• Error handling with try/catch
  Practice Exercises:
  Merge two files asynchronously.
  Fetch JSON from an API using https + async/await.
  Convert a callback into a promise.

• Understanding npm & package.json

• Installing & managing dependencies

• Using Nodemon for auto-reload

• Creating modular Node.js applications
  Practice Exercises:
  Create a math.js module (add, subtract, multiply).
  Install lodash & sort an array.
  Use nodemon to restart the server automatically.

• What is Express.js?

• Setting up an Express app

• Routing (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE)

• Handling JSON & form data
  Practice Exercises:
  Create an Express app that responds “Hello Express!”.
  Create routes /about, /contact.
  Serve an HTML file using Express.

• Middleware functions (built-in, custom, third-party)

• Route parameters & query strings

• Express Router (modular routes)

• Error-handling middleware
  Practice Exercises:
  Create middleware that logs request time & method.
  Build API /users/:id that returns user info.
  Add custom error handler for invalid routes.

• What is REST?

• CRUD API design principles

• Building REST APIs with Express

• Status codes & error handling
  Practice Exercises:
  Build a CRUD API for books (in-memory).
  Add search API /books?title=xyz.
  Handle 404 and validation errors gracefully.

• Introduction to Postman

• Sending GET, POST, PUT, DELETE requests

• Organizing collections

• Using environment variables

• Writing test scripts in Postman
  Practice Exercises:
  Test all CRUD routes in Postman.
  Create a Postman collection for your API.
  Write Postman tests to validate responses.

• File uploads with multer

• Sessions & cookies

• Authentication middleware

• Environment variables using dotenv
  Practice Exercises:
  Upload profile pictures via Express API.
  Implement a session-based login system.
  Store secrets in .env and load with dotenv.

• Setting up CORS

• Using Helmet for security headers

• Implementing Rate Limiting

• SQL Injection & XSS prevention (intro)

• Input validation with Joi / Validator.js
  Practice Exercises:
  Secure your Express app with helmet.
  Add rate limiting to API.
  Validate signup input using Joi.

Project Options:

• Expense Tracker (without database)

• Chat Application (basic real-time app)
  Practice Task:
  Build a Blog API where users can add posts and comments.

• What is a Database? RDBMS vs NoSQL

• Why MySQL?

• Installing MySQL & Workbench

• Connecting to MySQL (Workbench/CLI)

• Database basics: schema, tables, rows, columns
  Practice Exercises:
  Install MySQL and create a database school_db.
  Create a table students with id, name, age, class.
  Insert 5 student records.

• SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE

• Filtering with WHERE

• Sorting with ORDER BY

• Limiting results with LIMIT
  Practice Exercises:
  Fetch all students from students.
  Update a student’s age.
  Delete a student by ID.

• Data types (INT, VARCHAR, DATE, DECIMAL, etc.)

• Primary Key, Foreign Key

• UNIQUE, NOT NULL, DEFAULT

• AUTO_INCREMENT
  Practice Exercises:
  Modify students table to add a unique email column.
  Add a courses table with id, course_name.
  Add a foreign key linking students → courses.

• INNER JOIN, LEFT JOIN, RIGHT JOIN

• Many-to-One & Many-to-Many relationships

• Using junction tables
  Practice Exercises:
  Create a student_courses table (student_id, course_id).
  Write a query to fetch all courses taken by a student.
  List all students enrolled in each course.

• COUNT, SUM, AVG, MIN, MAX

• GROUP BY & HAVING

• Nested queries (subqueries)
  Practice Exercises:
  Find the total number of students per course.
  Find average student age per class.
  List courses with more than 3 students.

• Views

• Indexes (clustered & non-clustered)

• Stored Procedures

• Triggers
  Practice Exercises:
  Create a view active_students for students under 18.
  Write a stored procedure to add a new student.
  Write a trigger to log when a new student is inserted.

• Installing mysql2 / Sequelize driver

• Connecting Node.js app with MySQL

• Executing queries from Node.js

• Using connection pools
  Practice Exercises:
  Connect a Node.js app to MySQL and fetch students.
  Build an API /students that returns all students from DB.
  Implement connection pooling for efficiency.

• Designing REST APIs with DB integration

• Insert, Update, Delete from API

• Error handling in DB operations

• Pagination & Filtering
  Practice Exercises:
  Build full CRUD APIs for students (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE).
  Add pagination (?page=1&limit=10).
  Implement search by student name.

• User table (with hashed passwords)

• JWT Authentication with MySQL

• Role-based access control
  Practice Exercises:
  Implement signup/login with password hashing (bcrypt).
  Protect /profile route with JWT.
  Allow only admin users to delete records.

Project:

• Build a Complete Expense Tracker Application with Express.js + MySQL

  • Includes Authentication, Role-based Access, CRUD APIs, Validation & Deployment.