The Road to GraphQL is your personal journey to master pragmatic GraphQL in JavaScript. The book is full with applications you are going to build along the way with React.js and Node.js. Afterward, you will be able to implement full-stack JavaScript applications.
I wrote the The Road to GraphQL over the last year, while building several GraphQL applications for my clients and for myself. During this time, I came to understand the practical genius of GraphQL, and how it dramatically improves communication in client-server architectures. Not only does it improve the interface between the client and the server, it also enhances client-side state management by eliminating remote data management. Sophisticated GraphQL libraries like Apollo Client provide powerful features like caching, optimistic UI, and data prefetching for free. This book covers the fundamentals of GraphQL itself, as well as its ecosystem. I applied the same principles as my other books:
- Stay pragmatic
- Keep it simple
- Answer the why, not just the how
- Experience a problem, solve a problem
This book is not intended to be an end-all reference for GraphQL APIs, nor an in-depth guide about the internals of the GraphQL specification. Instead, its purpose is to journey through learning GraphQL with JavaScript the pragmatic way, building client and server applications yourself. The book covers lots of facets about GraphQL in JavaScript that are important for building modern applications, without just throwing the libraries like Apollo at problems before experiencing them. It starts with the basic HTTP requests to perform GraphQL queries first, then moves on to using dedicated GraphQL libraries for it. You will even get the chance to implement your own GraphQL client library, so you understand how these libraries work under the hood. There are no hidden abstractions in this book, just plenty of fundamentals for JavaScript, React.js, Node.js, and GraphQL.
Requirements
To get the most out of this book, you should be familiar with the basics of web development, which includes some knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. You will also need to be familiar with the term API, because they are discussed frequently. I encourage you to join the official Slack Group for the book, help or get help from others.
React
On the client-side, this book uses React to teach about GraphQL in JavaScript. My other book called The Road to learn React teaches you all the fundamentals about React. It also teaches you to make the transition from JavaScript ES5 to JavaScript ES6. The book is available for free and after having read the Road to learn React, you should possess all the knowledge to implement the GraphQL client-side application with this book.
Node
On the server-side, this book uses Node with Express as library to teach about GraphQL in JavaScript. You don't need to know much about those technologies before using them for your first GraphQL powered applications. The book will guide you through the process of setting up a Node application with Express and shows you how to weave GraphQL into the mix. Afterward, you should be able to consume the GraphQL API provided by your server-side application in your client-side application.
