» Node.js: Building Full-Text Search API with ElasticSearch » 1. Introduction » 1.1 Preparation

Preparation

Install Node.js

See How to install Node.js?.

Note: This project uses node v20.11.0 and npmv 10.2.4.

Pick an editor

Pick your favorite editor or use Visual Studio Code.

Learn JavaScript basics

If you're not familiar with JavaScript, you may try this tutorial: "Quick Introduction to JavaScript."

In text retrieval, full-text search refers to techniques for searching a single computer-stored document or a collection in a full-text database. Full-text search is distinguished from searches based on metadata or on parts of the original texts represented in databases.

A LIKE SQL query against millions of rows of text data can take minutes to return; whereas a full-text query can take only seconds or less against the same data, depending on the number of rows that are returned.

Elasticsearch

es logo

Elasticsearch is a distributed search and analytics engine built on Apache Lucene. Since its release in 2010, Elasticsearch has quickly become the most popular search engine and is commonly used for log analytics, full-text search, security intelligence, business analytics, and operational intelligence use cases.

Express web framework

Express is a fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework for Node.js.

Next