node-workshop

NodeJS basic workshop

Base instructions

• If you did not finish the exercises from the functions/objects workshop, please complete these first. You don't need to do the external Rx exercise, but I recommend you do it on your own time.
• Fork this repository and clone it in a new Cloud9 workspace.
• As you open the project in Cloud9, open a new terminal and go into the workspace directory inside your home folder.
• Do a file listing that shows hidden files, and notice there is a file called .gitignore. Open this file with nano to check its contents.
• Notice that the .gitignore file contains one line that says "node_modules". What this is doing is telling Git that it should ignore the contents of the node_modules directory. Since the code in there comes from the outside world, we don't need to save it in our repo.

First program

• Create a branch called hello-world off of master. In it, write a simple node program that outputs "Hello World!" to the console.
• Add an instruction to your program that will output "Hello World Again!!" 10 seconds after the program was run.
• Create a pull request so we can look at your code.

Getting some data

• Create a branch called iss off of master. In it, write a simple node program that will output the latitude and longitude of the International Space Station.
• Practice your google-fu by searching for "iss api" and figuring out the correct URL to use.
• Notice that the values provided by the API are very precise. Round off the values to two decimal digits for a nicer display.
• Create a pull request so we can look at your code.

Augmenting our application

• Create a branch called iss-augmented off of iss (NOT master).
• Augment your ISS application to tell the user how "far" the ISS is from them. Here is how you will do it:
• Using the prompt module, ask the user to enter their location (e.g. "montreal")
• Using Google's Geolocation API, find out the latitude and longitude of the provided location. Here is how:
  • This URL: https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=montreal will show the lat/long for montreal
  • Explore this URL in your web browser to figure out where the lat/lng is located. Try to pass different values for "address" for educational purposes :)
• When you are comfortable with finding the location based on an input address, you can then calculate the distance between the ISS and the user:
  • Look at this URL: http://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/latlong.html
  • It specifies a formula for calculating the distance. Scroll the page to the JavaScript portion, and create a function that uses the provided code. You don't need to understand what is going on in there, it is very mathy!
• Finally, display a message to the user telling them what their "distance" to the ISS is.
• Create a pull request so we can look at your code.

Number guessing game!

• Create a branch called number-guessing-game off of master.
• In this branch, re-write your number guessing game (from the basic javascript workshop) for the command line!
• Instead of using prompt and alert, you will have to use capabilities from NodeJS and any external module.
• Create a pull request so we can look at your code.

Challenge: Hangman!

• Create a branch called hangman off of master.
• In this branch, write a program that will let the user play hangman. The program should work as follows:
  • Choose a random word from a list of words.
  • In a loop, do the following:
    • Ask the user to guess a letter
    • If the user guessed a wrong letter, then add one step to the hangman "drawing"
    • Display the current completion of the word next to a hangman ASCII "drawing". You can get some inspiration from either here or here
    • Keep looping until either the word is found or the hangman is hanged!
  • Display a message to the user letting them know what happened
• Create a pull request so we can look at your code.