GraphQL on JavaScript (Node.js): A Complete Guide to Modern APIs

The book "GraphQL on JavaScript (Node.js)" is a practical guide to building modern, efficient, and secure APIs using the GraphQL query language and the Node.js runtime. The author, experienced backend developer Alexey Kuznetsov, consistently guides the reader from the basics to advanced techniques used in large projects.

What is this book about?

• GraphQL Basics: data types, schemas, queries, mutations, and subscriptions. You will understand how GraphQL differs from REST and when to use it.
• Node.js and Apollo Server: server setup, integration with databases (MongoDB, PostgreSQL), working with resolvers and context.
• Security and Authentication: API protection, access control, preventing N+1 attacks and query depth attacks.
• Performance Optimization: batch data loading (DataLoader), caching, batching, and pagination.
• Testing and Documentation: writing unit and integration tests, automatic documentation generation with GraphQL Playground and Apollo Studio.
• Real-World Examples: building a complete API for an online store, blog, or task management system. Each example comes with code and explanations.

Who is this book for?

• JavaScript developers familiar with Node.js who want to master GraphQL for building powerful and flexible APIs.
• Fullstack developers who want to improve the interaction between frontend and backend.
• Software architects looking for an alternative to REST and studying modern approaches to building APIs.
• Students and beginner developers with basic JavaScript knowledge who want to dive deeper into backend development.

What will the reader learn?

• How to design a GraphQL schema that scales and is easy to maintain.
• How to implement complex queries with nested data without losing performance.
• How to add real-time functionality via subscriptions (WebSockets).
• How to integrate GraphQL with popular frameworks and databases.
• How to deploy a finished application to the cloud (Heroku, AWS, Docker).

This book is not just a reference guide, but a full-fledged tutorial with practical tasks and ready-made projects. You will not only study the theory but also create your first GraphQL server, ready for use in real projects.

Perfect for self-study and as supplementary material for web development courses. Example code is available on GitHub.