This repo is intended to teach web dev early learners how to easily deploy their web apps on repl.it while giving them some experience on using the npm to manage the build and deploy.
repl.it is a free hosting service which can make our web app available to the public through a public domain accessible from any web browser in the world.
The node package manager helps us add important "packages" to our application so that we can create a server. In this example, we will be using express to serve our app.
The server is basically a javascript program which we will write in order to allow our index.html to be accessible through the browser.
Packages are programs (codes) written by other people with the goal of saving us some work. Packages provide us with functions that perform tasks which are either too difficult or too repetitive for us to code. In this case, express will be responsible for creating a server where our application will run.
- Create a sample html in
index.html, it can be just a 'hello, world' or another app you'd like to deploy. - We need
npmto complete this job, so you'll need to have it installed in your system. - Once we have
npminstalled and ourindex.htmlfile ready, move to the folder where you want to keep your app and runnpm init- in Linux. - After that, we need to install express. Run
npm i express --savein the same terminal. - Our project folder now must have 2 new files:
package.jsonandpackage-lock.json- they're the files that keep track of what packages we add to our project. - Open
package.jsonand find thescriptskey. By now, there must be only thetestkey inside. - Add a script to
scriptsaftertestcalledstart, the value should benode server.js- we'll create the server next.
- Create a file in your project's folder called server.js.
- Import the express package:
const express = require('express');. - Create an app to hold the server:
const app = express();. - Export the server to the whole application:
export default app.