MERN Stack

Create Project Directory

From the terminal:

mkdir mern-demo

Open Project Directory In Visual Studio Code

The following will open up a new window with the new folder loaded as a new project.
From the terminal:

code ./mern-demo

Initialize NPM

From the terminal inside the new VSC window:

npm init -y

Initialize Git

From the terminal:

git init

Create GitIgnore

From the terminal:

touch .gitignore

Edit GitIgnore

Add the following content to the new .gitignore file:

node_modules
notes

Create README.md

From the terminal:

touch README.md

Install TypeScript Tools

npm i -D typescript ts-node nodemon @types/node

Initialize TypeScript

./node_modules/.bin/tsc --init

This generates a tsconfig.json file.

Edit TsConfig

Open the tsconfig.json file and uncomment/edit the following:

// ...
"rootDir": "./src", // this tells typescript where to build the source from
// ...
"outDir": "./dist", // this tells typescript where to output the built javascript

Make Source Directory

From the terminal:

mkdir src

Make Develop Entry Point

From the terminal:

touch src/dev.ts

Edit Dev Entry Point

Add the following content to /src/dev.ts:

console.log("ts working");

Edit NPM Scripts

In the scripts block in package.json, add the following content:

  "scripts": {
    "build": "tsc",
    "dev": "nodemon ./src/dev.ts",
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
  },

Run Dev Script

From the terminal:

npm run dev

The application should start using nodemon, you will see the output from dev.ts a few lines down.
Try saving the dev.ts file with CTRL + S and you will see the file restarts on change.
To stop the script from running, CTRL + C. Sometimes quitting the script will not work, in this case start a new terminal and delete the terminal running the script.

Run Build Script

From the terminal:

npm run build

The built JavaScript should appear in the /dist directory.

Add Build Destination Directory To GitIgnore

Inside the .gitignore file add the following:

node_modules
notes
dist

This will ignore the built JS when pushing to Github.

Make Notes Directory

Make a directory to hold notes, ignored from pushing to Github.

mkdir notes

Install Express

npm i express

Install Express Types As Dev Dependency

npm i -D @types/express