Creating a Node.js server and routes
We need an HTTP server to expose API's and serve static files to the browser. To create a server in Node.js, Express.js is the node module that is very stable, popular, and widely used.
So let's begin. The first thing we require is a package.json file. The recommended way to do it is by using the npm init command.
Tip
Use npm init --y to avoid answering the prompt questions.
Here is the sample package.json for reference:
{
"name": "polling-app-node-rethinkdb",
"version": "1.0.0",
"description": "",
"main": "app.js"
}
Once the package.json is created, we can install dependencies that are required to run the project. They are:
Express: Web framework.
RethinkDB: RethinkDB official client driver
Socket.io: Socket module for message exchange to the client
Along with this, we also need the following dependencies for development purposes:
Async: Asynchronous handling utility
Body-parser: Middleware for parsing the incoming...