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Learn the Node.js built-in modules essential for back-end programming.

Node.js Essentials

There are times when we want some of our code to be executed at a specified point in time. This is what the [`timers` module](https://nodejs.org/api/timers.html#timers_class_immediate) is used for. Like the `Buffer` module, it is not necessary to use the `require()` import statement as the methods of the `timer` module are global.

You may already be familiar with some timer functions such as, `setTimeout()` and `setInterval()`. Timer functions in Node.js behave similarly to how they work in front-end JavaScript programs, but the difference is that they are added to the Node.js [event loop](https://nodejs.org/en/docs/guides/event-loop-timers-and-nexttick/). This means that the timer functions are scheduled and put into a queue. This queue is processed at every iteration of the event loop. If a timer function is executed outside of a module, the behavior will be random (non-deterministic).

The `setImmediate()` function is often compared with the `setTimeout()` function. When `setImmediate()` is called, it executes the specified callback function after the current ([poll phase](https://nodejs.org/en/docs/guides/event-loop-timers-and-nexttick/#setimmediate-vs-settimeout)) is completed.  The method accepts two parameters: the callback function (required) and arguments for the callback function (optional). If you instantiate multiple `setImmediate()` functions, they will be queued for execution in the order that they were created.

```javascript
setImmediate(() => {
    console.log('Hello! My name is Codey.')
});
```

The Timers Module

In Node.js, the `Buffer` module is used to handle binary data. The `Buffer` module is within the global scope, which means that `Buffer` objects can be accessed anywhere in the environment without importing the module with `require()`.

A `Buffer` object represents a fixed amount of memory that can't be resized. `Buffer` objects are similar to an array of integers where each element in the array represents a byte of data. The buffer object will have a range of integers from 0 to 255 inclusive. 

The `Buffer` module provides a variety of methods to handle the binary data such as `.alloc()`, `.toString()`, `.from()`, and `.concat()`.  

The `.alloc()` method creates a new `Buffer` object with the size specified as the first parameter. `.alloc()` accepts three arguments: 

* Size: Required. The size of the buffer
* Fill: Optional. A value to fill the buffer with. Default is 0.
* Encoding: Optional. Default is UTF-8.

```javascript
const buffer = Buffer.alloc(5);
console.log(buffer); // Ouput: [0, 0, 0, 0, 0]
```

The `.toString()` method translates the `Buffer` object into a human-readable string. It accepts three optional arguments: 

* Encoding: Default is UTF-8.
* Start: The byte offset to begin translating in the `Buffer` object. Default is 0.
* End: The byte offset to end translating in the `Buffer` object. Default is the length of the buffer.
  The start and end of the buffer are similar to the start and end of an array, where the first element is 0 and increments upwards.

```javascript
const buffer = Buffer.alloc(5, 'a');
console.log(buffer.toString()); // Output: aaaaa
```

The `.from()` method is provided to create a new `Buffer` object from the specified string, array, or buffer. The method accepts two arguments: 

* Object: Required. An object to fill the buffer with.
* Encoding: Optional. Default is UTF-8.

```javascript
const buffer = Buffer.from('hello');
console.log(buffer); // Output: [104, 101, 108, 108, 111]
```

The `.concat()` method joins all buffer objects passed in an array into one `Buffer` object. `.concat()` comes in handy because a `Buffer` object can't be resized. This method accepts two arguments: 

* Array: Required. An array containing `Buffer` objects.
* Length: Optional. Specifies the length of the concatenated buffer.

```javascript
const buffer1 = Buffer.from('hello'); // Output: [104, 101, 108, 108, 111]
const buffer2 = Buffer.from('world'); // Output:[119, 111, 114, 108, 100]
const array = [buffer1, buffer2];
const bufferConcat = Buffer.concat(array);

console.log(bufferConcat); // Output: [104, 101, 108, 108, 111, 119, 111, 114, 108, 100]
```

The Buffer Module

If you've worked with JavaScript before, you're likely familiar with the concept of _input/output_ even if you haven't heard it called that. At its most abstract, output is any data or feedback that a computer provides (like to a human user), while input is data provided to the computer. When we use `console.log()` we prompt the computer to output information to the console. In the Node environment, the console is the terminal, and the `console.log()` method is a "thin wrapper" on the `.stdout.write()` method of the `process` object. `stdout` stands for standard output. 

In Node, we can also receive input from a user through the terminal using the  `stdin.on()` method on the `process` object:

```js
process.stdin.on('data', (userInput) => {
  let input = userInput.toString()
  console.log(input)
});
```

Here, we were able to use `.on()` because under the hood `process.stdin` is an instance of `EventEmitter`. When a user enters text into the terminal and hits enter, a `'data'` event will be fired and our anonymous listener callback will be invoked. The `userInput` we receive is an instance of <a href="https://nodejs.org/api/buffer.html#buffer_buffer" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">the Node `Buffer` class</a>, so we convert it to a string before printing.


User Input/Output

The Node environment's `error` module has all the standard JavaScript errors such as `EvalError`, `SyntaxError`, `RangeError`, `ReferenceError`, `TypeError`, and `URIError` as well as the JavaScript `Error` class for creating new error instances. Within our own code, we can generate errors and `throw` them, and, with synchronous code in Node, we can use <a href="https://www.codecademy.com/learn/javascript-errors-debugging/modules/errors-and-error-handling
" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">error handling</a> techniques such as `try...catch` statements. Note that the `error` module is within the global scope&mdash;there is no need to import the module with the `require()` statement.

Many asynchronous Node APIs use _error-first callback functions_&mdash;callback functions which have an error as the first expected argument and the data as the second argument. If the asynchronous task results in an error, it will be passed in as the first argument to the callback function. If no error was thrown, the first argument will be `undefined`.  

```js
const errorFirstCallback = (err, data)  => {
  if (err) {
    console.log(`There WAS an error: ${err}`);
  } else {
    // err was falsy
    console.log(`There was NO error. Event data: ${data}`);
  }
}
```

The Error Module

All of the data on a computer is organized and accessed through a _filesystem_. When running JavaScript code on a browser, it's important for a script to have only limited access to a user's filesystem. This technique of isolating some applications from others is known as _sandboxing_. Sandboxing protects users from malicious programs and invasions of privacy. 

In the back-end, however, less restricted interaction with the filesystem is essential. The Node `fs` core module is an API for interacting with the **f**ile **s**ystem. It was modeled after the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POSIX" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">POSIX</a> standard for interacting with the filesystem.

Each method available through the `fs` module has a synchronous version and an asynchronous version. One method available on the `fs` core module is the `.readFile()` method which **read**s data from a provided **file**:
```js
const fs = require('fs');

let readDataCallback = (err, data) => {
  if (err) {
    console.log(`Something went wrong: ${err}`);
  } else {
    console.log(`Provided file contained: ${data}`);
  }
};

fs.readFile('./file.txt', 'utf-8', readDataCallback);
```
Let's walk through the example above:
+ We required in the `fs` core module. 
+ We define an error-first callback function which expects an error to be passed as the first argument and `data` as the second. If the error is present, the function will print `Something went wrong: ${err}`, otherwise, it will print `Provided file contained: ${data}`. 
+ We invoked the `.readFile()` method with three arguments: 
  1. The first argument is a string that contains a path to the file **file.txt**. 
  2. The second argument is a string specifying the file's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_encoding" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">character encoding</a> (usually 'utf-8' for text files). 
  3. The third argument is the callback function to be invoked when the asynchronous task of reading from the file system is complete. Node will pass the contents of **file.txt** into the provided callback as its second argument. 



The FS Module

In the previous exercise, we were reading data from a stream, but we can also write to streams! We can create a writeable stream to a file using the `fs.createWriteStream()` method: 
```js
const fs = require('fs')

const fileStream = fs.createWriteStream('output.txt');

fileStream.write('This is the first line!'); 
fileStream.write('This is the second line!');
fileStream.end();
```
In the code above, we set the output file as **output.txt**. Then we `.write()` lines to the file. Unlike a readable stream, which ends when it has no more data to read, a writable stream could remain open indefinitely. We can indicate the end of a writable stream with the `.end()` method. 

Let's combine our knowledge of readable and writable streams to create a program which reads from one text file and then writes to another. 

Writeable Streams

Node is often described as having event-driven architecture. Let's explore what that means. 

In traditional imperative programming, we give the computer a series of instructions to execute in a pre-defined order. In contrast, when we write web applications, we often need to write logic to handle situations without knowing exactly when they'll occur. For example, when programming a website, we might provide functionality for a click event without knowing when a user will trigger it. When Node was created, it applied this same concept of event-driven principles to the back-end environment. 

Node provides an `EventEmitter` class which we can access by requiring in the `events` core module:
```js
// Require in the 'events' core module
let events = require('events');

// Create an instance of the EventEmitter class
let myEmitter = new events.EventEmitter();
```
Each event emitter instance has an `.on()` method which assigns a _listener_ callback function to a named event. The `.on()` method takes as its first argument the name of the event as a string and, as its second argument, the listener callback function. 

Each event emitter instance also has an `.emit()` method which announces a named event has occurred. The `.emit()` method takes as its first argument the name of the event as a string and, as its second argument, the data that should be passed into the listener callback function. 
```js
let newUserListener = (data) => {
  console.log(`We have a new user: ${data}.`);
};

// Assign the newUserListener function as the listener callback for 'new user' events
myEmitter.on('new user', newUserListener)

// Emit a 'new user' event
myEmitter.emit('new user', 'Lily Pad') //newUserListener will be invoked with 'Lily Pad'
``` 
Let's create an event emitter!

The Events Module

In the previous exercise, we practiced reading the contents of entire files into our JavaScript programs. In more realistic scenarios, data isn't processed all at once but rather sequentially, piece by piece, in what is known as a _stream_. Streaming data is often preferable since you don't need enough RAM to process all the data at once nor do you need to have all the data on hand to begin processing it. 

One of the simplest uses of streams is reading and writing to files line-by-line. To read files line-by-line, we can use the `.createInterface()` method from the `readline` core module. `.createInterface()` returns an `EventEmitter` set up to emit `'line'` events:
```js
const readline = require('readline');
const fs = require('fs');

const myInterface = readline.createInterface({
  input: fs.createReadStream('text.txt')
});

myInterface.on('line', (fileLine) => {
  console.log(`The line read: ${fileLine}`);
});

``` 
Let's walk through the above code:
+ We require in the `readline` and `fs` core modules.
+ We assign to `myInterface` the returned value from invoking `readline.createInterface()` with an object containing our designated `input`.
+ We set our `input` to `fs.createReadStream('text.txt')` which will create a stream from the **text.txt** file.
+ Next we assign a listener callback to execute when `line` events are emitted. A `'line'` event will be emitted after each line from the file is read.
+ Our listener callback will log to the console `'The line read: [fileLine]'`, where `[fileLine]` is the line just read.

Let's practice making a readable stream. 

Readable Streams

Congratulations on making it to the end! Let's take a moment to review the content covered in this lesson:

- Blocking code runs synchronously and non-blocking code, such as timer functions, runs asynchronously.
- Core modules are provided to developers to perform common tasks efficiently. Core modules are used by passing a string with the module's name into the `require()` statement.
- We can make our own instances of the `EventEmitter` class, and we can subscribe to listen for named events with the `.on()` method and emit events with the `.emit()` method.
- Node allows for both _output_, data/feedback to a user-provided by a computer, and _input_ data/feedback to the computer provided by the user.
To handle errors during asynchronous operations, provided callback functions are expected to have an error as their first parameter.
- The `buffer` module provides global `Buffer` objects used to represent a fixed amount of memory that can't be resized.
- The `timer` module provides functions that allow developers to execute callbacks at a specified point of time in the future.
- The Node `fs` core module is an API for interacting with the **f**ile **s**ystem.
- _Streams_ allow us to read or write data piece by piece instead of all at once. 

Review

We will continue learning Node.js in this lesson by going into depth, covering modules essential to back-end development with Node.js. We'll cover core Node.js modules such as `events`, `error`, `buffer`, `fs`, and `timer` modules. We will also learn how to get user input and output and create readable and writable streams. These topics will not only help you get a deeper understanding of Node.js but will also build on the topics that have been covered thus far.