Creating a basic Express server - Try It Yourself

Creating a basic Express server

📖 Scenario: You want to create a simple web server that can respond to visitors with a friendly message. This server will listen for requests and send back a greeting.

🎯 Goal: Build a basic Express server that listens on port 3000 and responds with "Hello, Express!" when someone visits the home page.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create an Express app instance

Set a port number variable

Add a route for the home page that sends a greeting

Start the server listening on the port

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Basic Express servers are the foundation for many web applications and APIs.

💼 Career

Understanding how to set up and run an Express server is essential for backend web development roles.

1

Set up Express app

Write const express = require('express') to import Express, then create an app instance with const app = express().

Express

// Import Express and create app instance
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use require('express') to import Express and then call it as a function to create the app.

2

Set the port number

Create a variable called port and set it to 3000.

Express

const express = require('express')
const app = express()

// Set port number
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use const port = 3000 to set the port number.

3

Add a home page route

Use app.get('/', (req, res) => { ... }) to add a route for the home page that sends the text 'Hello, Express!' with res.send().

Express

const express = require('express')
const app = express()

const port = 3000

// Add home page route
// Your code here

Need a hint?

The app.get method defines a route. Use res.send to send the response.

4

Start the server

Call app.listen(port, () => { ... }) to start the server listening on the port. Inside the callback, use console.log to show `Server running on port ${port}`.

Express

const express = require('express')
const app = express()

const port = 3000

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Hello, Express!')
})

// Start the server
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use app.listen with the port and a callback that logs the server start message.