Preface

Node.js has become one of the most exciting development platforms in recent times. Combined with the largest package ecosystem in the world, npm, it has become a game changer in enabling higher developer productivity strides in improved application performance and a more enjoyable developer experience overall, which has lead to widespread industry adoption.

This book is focused on hapi.js, which is a rich Node.js framework for building applications and services with the goal of enriching the development experience further. It aims to increase your productivity by providing the tools you need when you want them and getting out of the away when you don't.

Developed by the talented team at Walmart Labs to handle the pressures of the Black Friday traffic, the busiest day of online retail on the calendar, it is proven at scale and has since seen wider adoption, participation, and collaboration from the wider community. Its growing adoption can be put down to how easy it is to use and get started with along with its proven stability.

The Node.js programming paradigm is quite different to other server-side technologies, and as such, it can be common for developers to get stuck on design and programming problems, such as dealing with the asynchronous nature of JavaScript and structuring an application as it grows. This is where hapi.js excels; it enables developers to focus on writing reusable business logic instead of losing time focusing on building application infrastructure without obscuring important implementation details.

While it was originally built as a framework focused toward the rapid development of RESTful APIs, thanks to its fantastic ecosystem, it has grown into a fully-fledged framework suited to building static file servers, websites, and web applications with excellent support for building real-time applications added more recently.

Due to the modular plugin approach it provides, it allows an easier collaboration between teams in larger enterprise environments as well as an easy point of integration for third-party libraries.

If you plan to use hapi.js in your next project, whether it be a side project, work project, or open source project, this book seeks to give you an excellent point at which to get started and solidify any knowledge you might have if you have used Node or hapi.js before.