Tag: node.js

Install Node.js On A Raspberry Pi Zero W Without NodeSource

March 9, 2018 Nic Raboy

A few weeks ago I thought I'd try to install Node.js on my Raspberry Pi Zero W to use it as a simple API server that I could take with me on the road. I have installed Node.js so many times before, including on a standard Raspberry Pi, that I figured it would be just as easy to do on the Pi Zero.

I was mistaken in regards to the difficulty.

On the Raspberry Pi Zero W, Node.js was nowhere to be found in apt-get and the scripts that used NodeSource in the official install documentation didn't work because ARMv6l is no longer supported by NodeSource.

We're going to see how to install Node.js on a Raspberry Pi Zero W when everything else fails.

Containerization with Docker by Example Released

January 23, 2018 Nic Raboy

I am pleased to announce that Containerization with Docker by Example, a course I've been working on for a while, has been published to the popular Udemy education network.

This course, is the fifth course that I've released and the first that hasn't been on the topic of mobile application development.

Encrypt And Decrypt Data In Node.js With The Crypto Library

January 22, 2018 Nic Raboy

As you've probably noticed from the previous few articles, I've been doing a lot of development around cryptocurrency wallets using Node.js. Up until now, I've only been writing about interacting with different currencies. However, I haven't discussed how to safely store your wallet information.

When it comes to storing anything sensitive, whether it be cryptocurrency secrets or something else, you must do so safely and securely. For example, the data must be encrypted at rest and decrypted when used.

We're going to see how to encrypt data with a passphrase using Node.js and decrypt it using that same passphrase when necessary.

Create A Cross-Platform Desktop DigiByte DGB Wallet With Angular And Electron

January 17, 2018 Nic Raboy

A few weeks back I had written an article titled, Send And Manage DigiByte DGB Coins With Node.js, which had explained how to interact with DigiByte coins via Node.js and the CLI. We saw how to keep track of a wallet, compare against the market value, and send DGB to other wallets. The catch here was that it was all CLI based and not particularly user friendly.

A popular solution towards adding a GUI to a Node.js application comes in the flavor of Electron. With Electron you're essentially packaging a web application that can interact with native platform APIs.

Since I'm a fan of Angular, we're going to see how to create a fancy DigiByte wallet using Electron, Node.js, and Angular.

Send And Manage DigiByte DGB Coins With Node.js

January 8, 2018 Nic Raboy

I've been spending a lot of time researching and watching the blockchain market because it is a very interesting subject matter. Not too long ago I had written an article titled, Create a Cross-Platform Desktop Ripple XRP Wallet with Vue.js and Electron, which focused on the Ripple, the banking network and cryptocurrency.

Ripple isn't the only cryptocurrency that I'm following. I'm also following DigiByte, which targets digital payments and has the DGB coin. If you're not familiar with DigiByte, the official wallet forces you to download around 12GB of data to synchronize with the network. It isn't really appealing to anyone who just wants to sit on some DGB. The good news, is this can be avoided by building your own wallet and client.

We're going to see how to build a DigiByte DGB client for storing, sending, and managing coins without having to synchronize with the network, using JavaScript and Node.js.

Deploying Native Node.js Dependencies On AWS Lambda

December 27, 2017 Nic Raboy

I was recently working on a Functions as a Service (FaaS) project using AWS Lambda and Node.js. However, I was running into an issue where my package dependencies found in my node_modules directory were for the wrong platform once deployed to Lambda. This is not the first time I experienced a problem like this. I knew the issue straight away because I encountered the same thing when trying to use a node_modules directory generated on Mac from a Windows computer.

When uploading a package developed with Node.js to AWS Lambda, the package.json file is not considered. Instead you are uploading a package that contains the node_modules directory and all dependencies. So how do you develop for AWS Lambda from Mac and Windows, but have it work once deployed?

We're going to see how to use Docker to get our Node.js FaaS project dependencies designed for Amazon's flavor of Linux.

Convert A Node.js RESTful API To Serverless With OpenWhisk

December 22, 2017 Nic Raboy

When it comes to serverless solutions, there are many options available. If you're a fan of the Microsoft cloud, you could create Azure Functions. If you've been keeping up, I wrote a tutorial called, Take a Node.js with Express API Serverless Using AWS Lambda, which used the Amazon Web Services cloud. Another solution is Apache OpenWhisk, a solution available on IBM's Bluemix cloud.

We're going to see how to convert the Node.js with Express application that I had written about in a previous article, and make it serverless with OpenWhisk.