Course Orientation and Setup Checklist - SWDBD401 Backend Application Development

Before the first lab session, every student needs a working development environment. This page is a checklist you can walk through in class or assign as pre-work. Every tool here is used somewhere in the four Learning Outcomes.

Prerequisites

Requirement	Minimum	Purpose
OS	Windows 10, macOS 10.14, Ubuntu 18.04+	Node.js compatibility
RAM	4 GB	Run Node.js, VS Code, and database together
Disk	2 GB free	Packages and databases
Admin rights	Required	Software installation

Step-by-Step Setup

Install Node.js (LTS version)

Visit nodejs.org and download the LTS version. LTS is stable and supported long-term. Avoid “Current.”

# Verify after install
node --version   # Should show v18.x or higher
npm --version    # Should show v9.x or higher

Alternative using nvm (recommended for managing multiple versions):

# macOS/Linux
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.0/install.sh | bash
nvm install 18
nvm use 18

Initialize a project

mkdir my-backend
cd my-backend
npm init -y        # Creates package.json with defaults

Install VS Code and key extensions

Download from code.visualstudio.com, then install these extensions:

Extension	Publisher	Use
ESLint	Microsoft	Catch JS errors automatically
Prettier	Prettier	Auto-format code on save
REST Client	Huachao Mao	Test APIs from VS Code
MySQL	Weijan Chen	Browse MySQL databases in the editor

Enable format-on-save: Settings > search “format on save” > check the box.

Install Postman

Download from postman.com/downloads. Create a free account and make a collection called “SWDBD401 APIs.”

Install a database (choose one or both)

This course uses MySQL for all database examples.

# macOS
brew install mysql
brew services start mysql

# Ubuntu / WSL
sudo apt-get install mysql-server
sudo systemctl start mysql
sudo systemctl enable mysql

# Verify
mysql --version

Secure the installation and set a root password:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Connect and create the course databases:

CREATE DATABASE swdbd_app;
CREATE DATABASE swdbd_test;
SHOW DATABASES;

Install MySQL Workbench from dev.mysql.com/downloads/workbench for a visual interface.

Install Git

# macOS
brew install git
# Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install git
# Configure
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "your@email.com"
git --version

Verify Everything Works

Run this in a terminal. Every line should print a version number:

echo "Node: $(node --version)"
echo "npm:  $(npm --version)"
echo "Git:  $(git --version)"

npm vs yarn Quick Reference

npm init -y
npm install express
npm install --save-dev jest
npm start
npm test
npm install          # install all from package.json

yarn init -y
yarn add express
yarn add --dev jest
yarn start
yarn test
yarn install

This course uses npm in all examples. Yarn works the same way; just swap the commands.

Key Terms

Term	Simple Definition
Node.js	JavaScript runtime built on Chrome’s V8 engine. Runs JS outside the browser.
npm	Node Package Manager. Downloads and manages third-party code packages.
package.json	The project manifest. Lists name, version, scripts, and dependencies.
Dependency	A package your app needs to run (e.g., express). Goes in `dependencies`.
devDependency	A package only needed during development (e.g., jest). Goes in `devDependencies`.
node_modules	Folder where all installed packages are stored. Never commit this to git.

Always add node_modules and .env to your .gitignore file before the first commit.

​Prerequisites

​Step-by-Step Setup

​Verify Everything Works

​npm vs yarn Quick Reference

​Key Terms

Prerequisites

Step-by-Step Setup

Verify Everything Works

npm vs yarn Quick Reference

Key Terms