Full Stack Course

Lesson 1 • Setting Up the Development Environment

This section installs and configures a code editor, terminal, version control, and browser developer tools. It creates a reproducible workspace for all course projects.

Lesson 2 • How the Web Works

This section covers DNS resolution, HTTP request-response cycles, and status codes. It establishes the communication model on which every subsequent chapter depends.

Lesson 3 • Version Control with Git

This section practices branching, committing, merging, and resolving conflicts using Git. It establishes the workflow used throughout every project in the course.

Lesson 4 • CSS Layout and Styling

This section applies the box model, Flexbox, and Grid to control layout and visual design. It connects directly to building responsive UI components in later chapters.

Lesson 1 • Functions and Scope

This section explains function declarations, expressions, arrow functions, closures, and the call stack. It builds the mental model required for callbacks and asynchronous code.

Lesson 2 • Asynchronous JavaScript

This section teaches the event loop, callbacks, Promises, and async/await for non-blocking code. It is foundational for all API communication covered in subsequent chapters.

Lesson 3 • Core Syntax and Data Types

This section covers variables, operators, control flow, and primitive versus reference types. It provides the vocabulary for every JavaScript concept that follows.

Lesson 4 • DOM Manipulation

This section selects, modifies, and creates DOM nodes in response to user events. It directly enables building interactive UI components in the frontend chapter.

Lesson 1 • Side Effects and Data Fetching

This section applies useEffect to fetch data, subscribe to events, and clean up resources. It connects asynchronous JavaScript skills to real API-driven component behaviour.

Lesson 2 • State Management with Hooks

This section uses useState and useReducer to manage local component state and derived data. It prepares students for lifting state and global state patterns.

Lesson 3 • Routing and Navigation

This section implements client-side routing with dynamic routes, nested layouts, and protected paths. It enables building multi-page SPAs with proper URL management.

Lesson 4 • React Fundamentals

This section introduces JSX, the virtual DOM, and functional components. It establishes the component model that all React patterns in this chapter build upon.

Lesson 1 • Middleware and Request Pipeline

This section writes custom middleware for logging, validation, and authentication checks. It shows how the request pipeline processes each incoming HTTP request.

Lesson 2 • Node.js Runtime and Modules

This section explains the Node.js event loop, module system, and built-in modules. It establishes how server-side JavaScript differs from browser JavaScript.

Lesson 3 • Building REST APIs with Express

This section defines routes, handles HTTP verbs, and parses request bodies using Express. It produces the API endpoints consumed by the React frontend.

Lesson 4 • Error Handling and Logging

This section implements centralised error handlers, operational versus programmer errors, and structured logging. It ensures APIs fail gracefully and are debuggable in production.

Lesson 1 • NoSQL and Document Databases

This section models data as documents, applies indexing, and performs CRUD with a document database. It contrasts with relational design to guide schema choice decisions.

Lesson 2 • Database Performance and Indexing

This section analyses query execution plans, adds indexes, and applies connection pooling. It ensures the data layer scales under realistic application load.

Lesson 3 • SQL Query Writing

This section writes SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, and aggregate queries with filtering and sorting. It builds the query skills needed for ORM configuration and raw queries.

Lesson 4 • Relational Database Fundamentals

This section covers tables, primary/foreign keys, normalisation, and joins. It provides the data modelling vocabulary used throughout the database chapter.

Lesson 1 • Authentication Concepts

This section distinguishes authentication from authorisation and explains stateful versus stateless approaches. It sets the conceptual foundation for all implementation sections.

Lesson 2 • Session-Based Authentication

This section manages server-side sessions with secure cookies and session stores. It provides an alternative to JWTs for applications requiring server-controlled invalidation.

Lesson 3 • Role-Based Access Control

This section defines roles and permissions, enforces them via middleware, and protects API routes. It enables multi-tenant and admin features in the capstone project.

Lesson 4 • JWT-Based Authentication

This section issues, signs, and verifies JSON Web Tokens for stateless API authentication. It integrates directly with the Express middleware pipeline from the backend chapter.

Lesson 1 • Connecting Frontend to Backend

This section configures API base URLs, handles CORS in development, and manages auth tokens in React. It bridges the isolated frontend and backend built in earlier chapters.

Lesson 2 • Debugging and Performance Profiling

This section uses browser DevTools, the Node.js debugger, and profiling tools to find and fix bottlenecks. It prepares students to diagnose issues in the deployed application.

Lesson 3 • End-to-End Testing

This section automates full user journeys in a real browser using an E2E testing framework. It catches integration regressions that unit tests cannot detect.

Lesson 4 • Unit Testing JavaScript

This section writes unit tests for pure functions and React components using a test runner and assertion library. It establishes the testing baseline before integration tests.

Lesson 1 • Monitoring and Alerting

This section integrates application performance monitoring, uptime checks, and error tracking. It enables rapid incident response for the deployed production application.

Lesson 2 • Cloud Deployment Basics

This section deploys containerised services to a cloud platform, configures domains, and manages environment secrets. It produces the first publicly accessible version of the application.

Lesson 3 • CI/CD Pipeline Setup

This section automates build, test, and deploy stages using a CI/CD service triggered by Git pushes. It eliminates manual deployment steps and enforces quality gates.

Lesson 4 • Containerisation with Docker

This section writes Dockerfiles, builds images, and runs multi-service stacks with Docker Compose. It ensures the application runs identically in development and production.