Next JS Free Code Camp: Learn Next.js from Scratch with Real-World Examples

Learning Next.js from scratch can be a daunting task, but with the right resources and guidance, you can become proficient in no time. Next.js is a popular React-based framework for building server-side rendered and statically generated websites and applications.

You can learn Next.js for free through the Next.js Free Code Camp, which provides real-world examples to help you understand the concepts. This hands-on approach makes it easier to grasp the material and apply it to your own projects.

The Next.js Free Code Camp covers essential topics such as routing, internationalization, and API routes, all of which are crucial for building robust and scalable applications. With these skills under your belt, you can start building complex projects with ease.

To get started with Next.js, you'll need to install Node.js on your computer, which will allow you to use the npx command to run npm packages without installing them globally.

First, create a Next.js project by running the command `npx create-next-app my-app` in your terminal. This will automatically scaffold a folder structure with the main directories.

Here are the main directories you'll find in a basic Next.js project:

You can now run your app by executing the command `npm run dev` in your terminal, which will make your app available at localhost:3000.

To set up your development environment, you'll need to install Node.js on your computer. This will allow you to use the npx command to run npm packages without installing them globally.

Node.js is a requirement for working with Next.js, so make sure to get it installed first. You can then create a Next.js project by running the command `npx create-next-app my-app`, where `my-app` is the name of your project.

A prompt will appear asking you to confirm some additional dependencies. Once you've confirmed, you can run `npm run dev` to make your app available at localhost:3000.

Here are the main directories that will be generated in your Next.js project:

So you're wondering why Next.js is a great choice for your web development project? Next.js is a React-based open-source JavaScript library framework that simplifies building server-side rendered and static applications.

It streamlines the process by leveraging the best features of React and optimizing rendering performance for improved user experience. This means you can build fast, easy-to-deploy, and low-maintenance websites.

One of the most common use cases for Next.js is building static websites, which are perfect for developer portfolio websites. Next.js can also be used to create dynamic websites that change content based on user interactions or server-side data fetching.

You can also use Next.js to build ecommerce websites that require server-side rendering for improved SEO and performance. And if you want to create progressive web applications (PWAs), Next.js supports that too.

Here are some of the key benefits of using Next.js:

Prisma is the perfect companion for Next.js apps that need to work with a database. It supports various ways to access your database, including at build time, request time, and API routes.

You can use Prisma inside Next.js's getStaticProps function to send queries to your database, making it suitable for static site generation (SSG). This is especially useful for static pages like blogs and marketing sites.

Next.js and Prisma are a great combo for React apps that require a database. You can query your database with Prisma in Next.js API routes, in getServerSideProps, or in getStaticProps for full rendering flexibility and top performance.

Prisma Accelerate can speed up your database queries, especially when deploying to a Serverless or Edge environment. It ensures a scalable connection pool and caches query results at the Edge, reducing the load on your database and making for faster response times.

Next.js is an incredibly powerful framework that offers a range of features to help you build fast, scalable, and secure applications.

You can use Prisma inside of getStaticProps to send queries to your database, making it a great combo for React apps.

With Next.js, you can import JavaScript modules and React Components dynamically, giving you the flexibility to create complex and interactive interfaces.

This is especially useful when building dynamic components that require user input or API data.

Server rendering is another key feature of Next.js, allowing you to render React components on the server side before sending the HTML to the client.

This enables you to create dynamic websites that can be deployed on a platform that runs Node.js.

Next.js takes end-to-end type safety to the next level by pairing seamlessly with Prisma. This ensures your app is coherently typed, from the database to your React components.

Next.js is written in TypeScript, which means it comes with excellent TypeScript support. This is a game-changer for developers who value strong typing and code maintainability.

With Next.js and Prisma, you can build robust and scalable applications that are less prone to errors and bugs. This is because the type safety is enforced throughout the entire development process.

Static Site Generation with Prisma is a powerful combination that allows you to pre-render pages at build time. This means your app will be faster and more efficient.

You can use Prisma inside of getStaticProps to send queries to your database, which is executed at build time for static site generation (SSG). This is commonly used for static pages like blogs and marketing sites.

Next.js will pass the props to your React components, enabling static rendering of your page with dynamic data. This is a game-changer for apps that don't require a lot of dynamic content.

To take it to the next level, you can use the next export command to export a fully static site from your app. This is made possible by Static Exports in Next.js.

Hot Code Reloading is a game-changer for developers. Next.js reloads the page when it detects any change saved to disk.

This feature saves you a ton of time, no more constantly refreshing the page to see changes take effect. It's a huge productivity boost, especially during development.

Next.js makes it easy to work with Single File Components. Using styled-jsx, which is built-in to Next.js, you can add styles scoped to the component in a very straightforward way.

This integration means you don't need to worry about setting up styled-jsx separately, it's just there and ready to use. The team behind Next.js built styled-jsx, so you can trust that it's a seamless fit.

The fact that styled-jsx is built-in to Next.js makes development with Single File Components a breeze.

Server rendering is a powerful feature in Next.js that allows you to render React components on the server side, before sending the HTML to the client. This enables you to create dynamic websites that can be deployed on a platform that can run Node.js.

With server rendering, you can provide the component with props using a special function called getInitialProps(), which is attached to the component. This function gets an object as its argument, containing properties like the query object, pathname, and asPath.

The getInitialProps function will be executed on the server side, but also on the client side, when you navigate to a new page using the Link component. This approach lets you use getInitialProps() from within your page component, with the only downside of having to write the component JSX inside the content prop.

In the context of server rendering, the getInitialProps function receives additional properties like req (the HTTP request object) and res (the HTTP response object), which are familiar to anyone who's done Node.js coding.

Automatic Code Splitting is a game-changer for performance. It breaks up your app code into smaller resources, only loading the JavaScript necessary for each page.

This means your first page load is lightning fast, and only future page loads will send the required JavaScript to the client.

Next.js analyzes the resources imported by your pages to achieve this. If only one page imports a library like Axios, that specific page will include the library in its bundle.

Frequently used imports are moved into the main JavaScript bundle if they're used in at least half of your site's pages, which is a notable exception to the rule.

Defining Layouts is a crucial part of building a website with Next.js. To do this, you'll need to create a components folder in the src directory of your project.

In this folder, create separate components for the Navbar and Footer. The Navbar component, for example, will be created in a file named Navbar.jsx. This component will contain the code that defines the navigation menu.

A Layout component is where you'll put the Navbar and Footer alongside the page content. It will accept a children prop, which allows you to access the content of your pages.

To add the Layout component to your pages, you'll need to wrap your page content in it. This is done in the _app.js file. By doing this, you'll have successfully created a Layout component that holds the Navbar and Footer alongside the children props positioned properly.

You can create a project component to showcase your skills and experience as a developer. This component is one of the most important sections of a developer's portfolio.

Each project will include a brief description, a link to its source code, and any other details you wish to add. You can store this information in an array to make it easy to maintain and update.

To create the array, you can create a data.js file to store the array of project data. This file can be stored in the component folder or the pages/api folder. For this example, I'll store it in the components folder.

The array will hold an object for each project, which will contain the project name, description, and GitHub link. You can then import this array into your project component to loop through the data and output all the projects.

You can use any JavaScript iteration method to loop through the array, but for this example, we'll use the map() array method. This method makes it easy to maintain and add more projects to your portfolio.

By looping through the array, you can avoid hard-coding the project details, making it easier to update and maintain your portfolio. This is a great way to showcase your skills and experience as a developer.

Nextacular is an open-source starter kit for quickly building full-stack multi-tenant SaaS platforms.

This template is perfect for startups and businesses that need to create complex SaaS platforms efficiently.

Nextacular is a free resource that can save you a significant amount of time and effort in building your SaaS platform.

It's designed to help you get started with your project right away, without the need for extensive coding knowledge.

You can use Nextacular to create a full-stack SaaS platform with ease, thanks to its pre-built templates and boilerplates.

Nextacular is a great option for those who want to build a robust SaaS platform without breaking the bank.

It's a free and open-source resource, making it accessible to developers of all levels.

Gatsby and Create-React-App are both popular choices for building React applications, but they have different strengths and use cases.

Gatsby is particularly well-suited for building static sites, and it has a strong ecosystem of plugins, including many for blogging.

If you're looking to build a static site, Gatsby might be the better choice, especially if you're interested in blogging.

Gatsby can generate a static site without a server, which is then deployed statically on a hosting site like Netlify.

Create-React-App, on the other hand, doesn't make it easy to generate a server-side-rendered app, but it does provide some tools for SEO and speed.

Here are some key differences between Gatsby and Create-React-App:

You can start a Next.js application using create-next-app, which is similar to create-react-app, but creates a Next app instead.

This handy tool lets you download and execute a JavaScript command, and you'll use it to create a new folder with the application name.

The command downloads all the packages it needs, including react, react-dom, and next, and sets the package.json to include these dependencies.

You can immediately run the sample app by running npm run dev, and it will be available on http://localhost:3000.

You can also use the --example option to get more examples, such as creating a blog instance with syntax highlighting.

The Profiler tab is a powerful tool that allows you to record an interaction in the app and see what happens, but it requires at least 2 components to create an interaction.

You can access the Next.js Router directly, provided in the next/router package, and call its push() method to programmatically trigger a URL change.

The push() method allows you to change the URL in the frontend, making it easy to manage routing in JSX.

You can also use the router to listen for route change events, which is useful in dynamic pages.

To get the router object, you'll need to import useRouter from next/router, then get the router object using const router = useRouter().