Module Overview

What You’ll Learn

• Read and write files with Node’s fs module
• Work with file paths, processes, and events without a framework
• Build a basic HTTP server using nothing but Node’s built-in http module

💡 Why this module matters: Express is built on top of these exact modules. Using them directly first, before Express hides the details, makes it clear what a framework is actually doing for you, and gives you tools you’ll reach for constantly even in an Express project.

What’s Covered

• fs, reading, writing, and working with files and directories.
• path, building file paths correctly across operating systems.
• os, information about the machine a program is running on.
• process, the currently running Node program itself, including arguments and exit codes.
• crypto, hashing and generating secure random values.
• events, Node’s event emitter pattern, the foundation the rest of Node is built on.
• http, building a raw HTTP server, no framework involved.
• url, parsing and working with URLs.
• stream, handling data that arrives in pieces rather than all at once.
• readline, reading input line by line, useful for simple command-line tools.

Hands-On

By the end of this module, you’ll have built a working HTTP server using only Node’s built-in http module, and used several other core modules to read files, hash values, and handle events directly.

Next module: Express.js, and everything these core modules were preparing you for.