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Elsevier

Full-Stack Web Development from the Ground Up

Principles, Practices, and Technologies

  • 1st Edition - November 4, 2026
  • Latest edition
  • Author: Christopher D Hundhausen
  • Language: English

Web development is one of the most highly sought after skills in the software industrytoday. Full-Stack Web Development From the Ground Up: Principles, Practices, andTechno… Read more

Description

Web development is one of the most highly sought after skills in the software industry
today. Full-Stack Web Development From the Ground Up: Principles, Practices, and
Technologies presents a systematic and modern treatment of this core area of software
development, starting with the fundamentals of front-end development using HTML, CSS,
and JavaScript; moving to front-end development with React; and culminating in server-side
development using Express.js, Node.js, and MongoDB.
Using the widely adopted MERN stack (MongoDB, Express.js, React.js, and Node.js), this
undergraduate textbook explores full-stack web development through the step-bystep
construction of a pedagogical version of SpeedScore (see https://speedscore.org), a
sophisticated full-stack web application that supports the international speedgolf community.
The book’s emphasis is not on specific web development technologies, but rather on the
underlying concepts, principles, and best practices of web development. This approach lays
a solid foundation for students to become proficient web developers who can adapt to the
rapidly changing landscape of web development technologies.

Key features

  • Takes a hands-on approach by motivating, designing, and developing a full-stack web application from the ground up
  • Provides complete code for the application developed in the book (38,000 lines of code) through a well-documented companion GitHub repository with a branch for each book chapter and tags marking code examples developed in book, allowing students to explore, execute, and follow along with the book’s code
  • Uses detailed annotated flow diagrams to graphically present complex application flows and logic
  • Presents side discussions (“boxes”) of key technologies, considerations, and tradeoffs related to chapter content
  • Includes end-of-chapter exercises and programming tasks that provide opportunities to reinforce and apply chapter content

Readership

Upper level undergraduate computer science and software engineering students taking a course on full-stack web development

Table of contents

1. Welcome to Full Stack Web Development

2. The Front-End Code Behind a Single Page Web App

3. Creating a Single-Page Web App Framework in HTML and CSS: Semantic HTML and ARIA Roles

4. Creating a Single-Page Web App Framework in HTML and CSS: Part II

5. Bringing a Single-Page Web App to Life with JavaScript: Event Handling and Menus

6. Bringing a Single-Page Web App to Life with JavaScript: Tabs and Modal Dialogs

7. Automated Testing of Client-Side Web Apps

8. Obtaining and Validating User Data with HTML Forms

9. Using HTML Forms: An Advanced Example

10. Saving User Data in Local Storage

11. Working with Data in Tables

12. Welcome to React

13. Transitioning to the Create React App Framework

14. Using Web APIs to Obtain App Data and Enhance Functionality

15. Architecting React Component Hierarchies

16. Managing State and Complexity in React Component Hierarchies

17. Making Client Web Apps Accessible to the World

18. Using Node and Express to Build a Web App’s Back End

19. Storing App Data Persistently with MongoDB

20. Architecting Web APIs with Express and MongoDB

21. Authenticating Users

22. Securing API Routes

23. Testing and Documenting Web APIs

24. Implementing and Deploying SpeedScore with a Web API

APPENDIX
A. Cloning a Speedscore Repository to a Local Repository
B. Team Web Development Project

Product details

  • Edition: 1
  • Latest edition
  • Published: November 4, 2026
  • Language: English

About the author

CH

Christopher D Hundhausen

Recipient of both a Fulbright Grant and a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, Christopher Hundhausen was the founder and director of the Human-centered Environments for Learning and Programming (HELP) Lab at Washington State University. He is Professor of computer science and Associate Head for Online Programs in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Oregon State University. His research applies the methods of human-computer interaction to the design and empirical evaluation of software environments and pedagogical approaches to improve learning and retention in undergraduate computer science and engineering education. Dr. Hundhausen has established himself as an international leader in the field of algorithm visualization, which explores technology and pedagogical approaches that enhance human understanding of computer algorithms.
Affiliations and expertise
Professor, Computer science, Associate Head for Online Programs, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Oregon State University.