Backend Web Development — Assignments

Welcome! This repository holds the starter code for the hands-on assignments in the Backend Web Development course. It is shared with both students and mentors.

You will build real backend skills the way working engineers do: by writing code, pushing it to a branch, and opening a Pull Request (PR) for review.

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What this course is about

Backend Web Development takes you from the fundamentals of the server side through to building structured, production-shaped Node.js and Express applications. Across the course you will work with the Node runtime, the file system and streams, HTTP and routing, modular Express apps, middleware pipelines, request validation, and more.

Many lessons are anchored around Threadbase, a reference developer-community app, so the concepts you learn always connect to how a real backend is actually built.

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What is in this repo

This repository contains the starter code for one assignment, at the root. Everything you need to begin is right here:

README.md        ← the full brief: what to do, how to run, how to submit
package.json     ← dependencies and the "npm start" script
...starter files with TODOs for you to complete

Read README.md for the complete details, and only edit the files it tells you to.

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How PR-based assignments work

These assignments are Project Artifact Submissions: you work in your own repository and submit a link to a Pull Request, and your code is reviewed against a rubric (an automated AI reviewer plus, where needed, a mentor).

You do not push to this starter repo. This repo is read-only reference material. You copy the starter code into your own repository, do all your work there, and open the PR inside your repo.

The flow is the same every time:

1. Create your own repository for the assignment (follow your cohort's instructions), and copy this starter code into it. This starter repo stays untouched.
2. In your repo, create a branch for your work, e.g. git checkout -b lu16-streams (committing straight to main is fine too if that is what your cohort uses).
3. Install dependencies inside the assignment folder: npm install.
4. Run it to make sure it starts: npm start.
5. Implement the TODOs described in the README.md.
6. Test locally until the behaviour matches the brief's examples.
7. Commit and push to your own repo:

   git add .
   git commit -m "lu16: implement streams assignment"
   git push origin lu16-streams

8. Open a Pull Request in your own repository (e.g. your branch into your main) and submit the PR link on the platform.

What gets graded

Only the code in your PR is evaluated against the assignment rubric — does the code do what the brief asks, correctly and cleanly. A clear PR title and description are good practice, but the description itself is not part of the grade.

Submission checklist

• Working in your own repo (not this starter repo).
• All TODOs implemented; no leftover // TODO placeholders.
• npm install and npm start run without errors.
• Behaviour matches the examples in the brief.
• Only the files you were asked to change have changed.
• Pushed to your repo and PR opened there; PR link submitted.

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Tips

• Do not commit node_modules/. Run npm install locally instead.
• Keep commits small and meaningful.
• If something is unclear, re-read the README.md before asking — the examples usually answer it.

Happy building.