» Node.js: Building Event-Driven Microservices with Kafka » 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."

What is an Event-Driven Architecture

See https://aws.amazon.com/event-driven-architecture/.

How it works: example architecture

Figure. How it works: example architecture from https://aws.amazon.com/event-driven-architecture/

Apache Kafka

kafka logo

Apache Kafka is an open-source distributed event streaming platform used by thousands of companies for high-performance data pipelines, streaming analytics, data integration, and mission-critical applications.

Express web framework

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

Miminal example:

const express = require('express')
const app = express()
const port = 3000

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Hello World!')
})

app.listen(port, () => {
  console.log(`Example app listening on port ${port}`)
})