Yes, but make sure you have a deep, fundamental understanding of JavaScript first. EDIT: For u/1knowbetterthanyou the pedant, I mean to say "...a deep understanding of the fundamentals of JavaScript..." Answer from MrQuickLine on reddit.com
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/freecodecamp › should i build my website with nodejs and express or react only
r/FreeCodeCamp on Reddit: Should I build my website with nodejs and express or react only
August 9, 2021 -

Sorry if the question doesnt make sense I am still learning. So I learnt reactjs before nodejs and I just finished nodejs a few days ago and now comparing, I am wondering If I really need nodejs when creating my site. I find doing it with react easy on the mind and I understand the style it is simple components I get it. Nodejs and express on the other hand, not that I do not like it but that just I like the react style of doing it. I came acros the term "mern" and i havent learnt how to do mern but apparently it is combing react node and express and my question is do I really need to use mern or I can keep it simple with just react? and are there any disadvantages or advantages of using either of them?

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I think you have a slight misunderstanding of the purpose of node/expess vs. react. React is a front-end library and generates files that are served to the end user via a web server. It essentially doesn't really matter which web server software you use to serve those files to the end user, unless you need some specific feature. Express is web server software that runs on Nodejs. Express can be configured to serve those static files generated from react, or any other types of files. Or Express doesn't have to do that at all, and instead uses something called 'endpoints' to accept or return formatted data to another application. Express by itself generally does not give you a website front end like React does. Ultimately you will need web server software to send your react site files to users that arrive at your URL. So that can be Express, or some other examples are NGINX, Apache, IIS, Lighttpd, etc. There are LOTS of web servers out there. Hopefully this makes some sense and clears things up a bit? Edit: saw that you asked about MERN. MERN is Mongodb, Express, React, Node. Essentially a stack of software for building powerful websites. Mongdb is a database, personally I use SQL databases instead of NoSQL databases (which Mongodb is). So I use Microsoft SQL Server generally due to my employer's preference. So my stack would probably be SERN. (S for SQL). If you don't need dynamic data fetching for your site (user accounts, different feeds of data, etc), you can probably get away with just React if that's what you like. It really depends on your needs. If you are learning to become a professional Javascript dev, you will need to learn everything you mentioned at some point.
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I'm not sure you completely understood what you learned. Maybe you went through it too fast? The replies you got so far break it down really well but I'll probably go over these concepts again before moving forward... If you try to learn too much stuff too fast you're bound to mix everything in your head...
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/frontend › should i learn node js or react ?
r/Frontend on Reddit: Should i learn node js or react ?
January 4, 2023 - I’d suggest learning both when you have a grasp of vanilla JS. ... Both, but start with nodeJS. It's essential to understand APIs and get skills into building them, as well as communicating with databases. React is not too complicated once you master javascript.
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Lemon.io
lemon.io › home › questions and answers › express.js › what is react express.js vs node.js?
What is React Express.js vs Node.js? - Lemon.io
December 11, 2024 - React.js is a front-end library for building user interfaces, while Node.js is a JavaScript runtime for executing server-side code. Express.js, bu…
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/reactjs › should i stick with react and nodejs or use nextjs/remixjs?
r/reactjs on Reddit: Should I stick with React and nodejs or use nextjs/remixjs?
January 31, 2024 -

I usually use React and nodejs for mern apps. I've been trying to learn nextjs/remixjs but don't really understand how, is nodejs in nextjs/remixjs or is it just a frontend framework? Do I need to add nodejs with nextjs/remixjs for serverside?

Sorry for a stupid question

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GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › node.js › difference-between-node-js-and-react-js
Difference between Node.js and React.js - GeeksforGeeks
July 15, 2025 - Node.js is a runtime environment that allows developers to run JavaScript on the server side. It is built on Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine and enables the development of scalable network applications. React.js (or simply React) is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces, primarily focused on creating reusable UI components.
Find elsewhere
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/javascript › [askjs] what is the relationship between javascript, node.js,, next.js, and react.
r/javascript on Reddit: [AskJS] What is the relationship between Javascript, Node.js,, Next.js, and React.
June 4, 2024 -

Im trying to gain a deeper understanding of how JavasScript interacts with Node.js, Next.js, and React. What does Node.js, being a runtime for JavaScript, do on a lower level? What does Next.js do? How are they incorporated when using React?

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/learnprogramming › nodejs or reactjs first?
r/learnprogramming on Reddit: Nodejs or Reactjs first?
January 29, 2019 -

I know they are 2 different things and I should learn them both, but which one first?

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The advice here is wild. Node is an interpreter and runtime for JavaScript that lives outside the web browser. Web browsers have their own JS interpreter (in fact, Node’s interpreter was originally pulled straight out of Chrome). You don’t “learn” Node, at least not in the same way you learn React. You use Node to run JavaScript. React is a framework for building JS applications in the browser. You will use Node to package your React app in a way that a browser can run it. Yes, because Node let’s you run JS outside of the browser context, you can use it to build non-browser programs using JS. It’s like the standard Ruby or Python interpreters, though, vs a framework written to help you build specific types of applications in those languages. It’s a bit like asking “Should I learn Python or Django first?” If you’re asking that question the answer is you need to focus on the fundamentals and get yourself unconfused ASAP. If your goal is to learn to program then learn JavaScript. Save React for when you’re ready to build more complex JS apps in the browser front-end. You can run JS in the browser or outside of a browser using Node. Learning JS outside a browser first will make things easier if your goal is to learn to program in general. For example, learning front-end only will result in you having a warped picture of what persistence is. It’ll involve some hand waiving about APIs. Writing a command line program that reads/writes from text files will give you an accurate picture. As complexity increases you’ll be motivated to do things like use databases and external APIs to solve your problems, but you should understand the contours of the problems first. Everything you learn outside the browser will motivate the practices you’ll be asked to adopt when you write code in the more specific browser environment. Regardless, React will require Node to do its stuff. It requires a JS interpreter to work. Locally, you’ll be using Node and your browser. In production, you’ll use just the browser.
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My 2 cents, learn what Node is and learn what NPM is used for. Just high level understanding is enough to get by for now. You don't need to be creating your own packages or running servers on node. Then dig into React. I hope you've got your JS fundamentals down. Map, filter, and reduce should all be pretty familiar to you before digging into React. And Good Luck!
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/node › looking for the best express, react & node.js course – project-based learning recommendations?
r/node on Reddit: Looking for the Best Express, React & Node.js Course – Project-Based Learning Recommendations?
March 3, 2025 -

Hi everyone,
I'm a beginner in web development with some basic JavaScript experience, and I'm looking to dive deep into building full‑stack applications using Express, React, and Node.js. I'm particularly interested in a project‑based course that focuses on these three technologies to help me build real-world web applications.

I've come across a few courses, but I'm curious if there are any that specifically excel at teaching Express for the backend along with React for the frontend, and Node.js as the runtime. What courses have you found most effective for learning this stack, and why? Also, if you have any additional tips or resources for mastering these tools together, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks in advance!

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Quora
quora.com › What-is-the-difference-between-Express-and-React-in-terms-of-node-js-development
What is the difference between Express and React, in terms of node.js development? - Quora
Answer (1 of 6): its Totaly false , ExpressJS is used for back office , you can say its like a framework like (Laravel, Symphony ...) , React is used for front office , its a framwork you include in your html file or whatever and interect with the user in the browser . i am using both , and i m...
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/node › node.js + express.js, or node.js alone?
r/node on Reddit: Node.js + Express.js, or Node.js alone?
January 31, 2024 -

So I wanted to learn Node.Js thoroughly and recently I’ve been learning Node.js from online tutorial and it seems they are focusing on Node.js with express.js and not Node.js alone. Is it okay to learn it with express? Or should I complete this course and later learn few other things, OR, skip this course and learn only Nodejs??????? (In my company I want to switch internally where they require Node.js developer with some exp.)

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/learnjavascript › react + nodejs or nextjs
r/learnjavascript on Reddit: React + nodejs or Nextjs
April 10, 2022 -

Hopefully i have found the right place to ask my question.

im a student developer(frontend) who needs som guidance on how i should be moving forward with my coding skills. I have been using react and nodejs for about 2 years but recently created a trello clone with nextjs and i really like the framework. My interest in coding is not limited to just the frontend, I have also made some simple backend apps(webScraper, rest apis). And my goal is to become somewhat of a decent fullstack developer in the future.

So should i stick to react as frontend and nodejs as backend? or should go over to nextjs?

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I would highly recommend you start by reading over the Next.js documentation , based on your question it sounds like you might be a bit confused as to exactly what Next.js is (which makes sense, you're still learning). There isn't really any "sticking to node" or "sticking to react" as an alternative to Next.js. Next IS Node and React. You can't use it without also working with both of those directly. Next is simply a very powerful wrapper around both of them that provides automatic handling of things like routing, static page generation, organization of API routes, image optimization, internationalization and much more. If you become an expect in Next.js and then it suddenly disappeared off the Earth tomorrow, you'd almost certainly still retain those expert level skills you had developed in Node/React from working with Next, you'd just need to handle a few more pieces of the development process manually. I highly recommend you use it, I think it's only going to continue to grow in the coming years given how nice it is to work with, how fast the output can feel, and how much $ it has behind it in terms of backing and support. I would echo also the other comment about keeping an eye on the tooling in the job descriptions in your area. A lot of demand for different stacks can be regional, however that said remote work in the software industry is quickly becoming a standard (especially for more senior devs), so it's not as critical as it used to be to just look in just your area. Good luck!
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I don't understand the question... next.js is a framework for node.js. You can't use next.js without node.js.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/webdev › is express js the right choice?
r/webdev on Reddit: Is Express JS the right choice?
May 24, 2024 -

So I and a friend of mine are tasked with creating a management platform where the data of some musicians affiliated with a certain company can be managed by that company. I'm thinking of using Express and PostgreSQL for the backend, whereas my friend will be using either React or Vue for the frontend and Swift/Kotlin for the mobile app.

Is Express the right choice in this situation? It's the only backend framework I've worked with in the past and can't afford learning another framework like Spring Boot, .NET, etc. because of the time constraint. Basically, musicians will be able to sign up and log in to the website, and when they log in, all their data from various music platforms (Spotify, SoundCloud, etc.) will be fetched to be shown in their account. The company, on the other hand, will be able to easily manage their musicians on the platform (think of it like a CRUD management system)

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Medium
ivarunkumar007.medium.com › nodejs-expressjs-react-vue-and-angular-44778753cce6
NodeJS, ExpressJS, React, Vue and Angular | by Varunkumar Inbaraj | Medium
August 25, 2020 - Express provides a thin layer on top of Node. js with web application features such as basic routing, middleware, template engine and static files serving, so the drastic I/O performance of Node. js doesn’t get compromised.
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StackShare
stackshare.io › stackups › expressjs-vs-react
ExpressJS vs React | What are the differences?
React is used for its functional nature and simplification of ES6. The efficiency of how it re-renders based on components is an added bonus. styled-components is used to simplify CSS 3 styling, and to avoid having additional files.