Web development is one of the most highly sought after skills in the software industry
today. Full-Stack Web Development From the Ground Up: Principles, Practices, and
Technologies presents a systematic and modern treatment of this core area of software
development, starting with the fundamentals of front-end development using HTML, CSS,
and JavaScript; moving to front-end development with React; and culminating in server-side
development using Express.js, Node.js, and MongoDB.
Using the widely adopted MERN stack (MongoDB, Express.js, React.js, and Node.js), this
undergraduate textbook explores full-stack web development through the step-bystep
construction of a pedagogical version of SpeedScore (see https://speedscore.org), a
sophisticated full-stack web application that supports the international speedgolf community.
The book’s emphasis is not on specific web development technologies, but rather on the
underlying concepts, principles, and best practices of web development. This approach lays
a solid foundation for students to become proficient web developers who can adapt to the
rapidly changing landscape of web development technologies.

• Takes a hands-on approach by motivating, designing, and developing a full-stack web application from the ground up
• Provides complete code for the application developed in the book (38,000 lines of code) through a well-documented companion GitHub repository with a branch for each book chapter and tags marking code examples developed in book, allowing students to explore, execute, and follow along with the book’s code
• Uses detailed annotated flow diagrams to graphically present complex application flows and logic
• Presents side discussions (“boxes”) of key technologies, considerations, and tradeoffs related to chapter content
• Includes end-of-chapter exercises and programming tasks that provide opportunities to reinforce and apply chapter content