A JavaScript template to replicate Pieter Levels' tech stack in NodeJS
I've been following Pieter Levels for some time, and I've often felt that the JavaScript ecosystem lacks a tech stack with the simplicity of a vanilla PHP installation, which is how Pieter builds his apps.
It seems that projects in the JavaScript world inevitably trend towards convolution and over-complexity.
This is evident in frameworks and libraries like Angular, SvelteKit, Next.js, and even Express, in my opinion.
After watching Pieter's video with Lex Fridman, I decided it is time to build LevelsJS.
- Clone the repository
- Run
npm install - Run
npm start
That's it! To make changes, simply edit the files in the repository. The server will automatically restart when you save a file, but you'll need to manually reload the page to see the changes.
The code is intentionally self-documenting, allowing you to understand its functionality by reading it directly, without the need to sift through extensive documentation.
The only thing that is not self-explanatory is the AJAX request. To make an AJAX request, you can use the fetch API, which is built into the browser, but ideally, you should install JQuery (what Pieter uses) or htmx (what I would personally recommend).
As I am using Hyper-Express, which is built on top of uWebSockets.js, the server should totally murder any php servers in existence... ;-)
Happy hacking!
MIT