NeoTech · August 29, 2015 13:55 · Feb 1, 2014 · Feb 1, 2014 · Feb 1, 2014
diff --git a/my-first-module.md b/my-first-module.md
@@ -194,5 +194,5 @@ _note_: the `git tag` of that operation is not required, but can be extremely us
 
  * add tests to your module
  * read about [semver](http://semver.org/)
- * add some dependencies to your project [managing-dependencies.md](https://gist.github.com/tmpvar/8746416)
+ * add some dependencies to your project [managing-dependencies.md](https://gist.github.com/NeoTech/8746517)
 
diff --git a/my-first-module.md b/my-first-module.md
@@ -194,3 +194,5 @@ _note_: the `git tag` of that operation is not required, but can be extremely us
 
  * add tests to your module
  * read about [semver](http://semver.org/)
+ * add some dependencies to your project [managing-dependencies.md](https://gist.github.com/tmpvar/8746416)
+
diff --git a/my-first-module.md b/my-first-module.md
@@ -0,0 +1,196 @@
+# building your first node module
+
+This is pretty simple, lets dive in!
+
+## choose a name
+
+Find a name that isn't taken and clearly describes what your module is doing
+
+```bash
+$ npm view your-first-node-module
+npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/your-first-node-module
+npm http 404 https://registry.npmjs.org/your-first-node-module
+npm ERR! 404 'your-first-node-module' is not in the npm registry.
+npm ERR! 404 You should bug the author to publish it
+npm ERR! 404 
+npm ERR! 404 Note that you can also install from a
+npm ERR! 404 tarball, folder, or http url, or git url.
+
+npm ERR! System Darwin 13.0.0
+npm ERR! command "/usr/local/bin/node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "view" "your-first-node-module"
+npm ERR! cwd /Users/tmpvar/work/tmp
+npm ERR! node -v v0.10.25
+npm ERR! npm -v 1.3.24
+npm ERR! code E404
+npm ERR! 
+npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:
+npm ERR!     /Users/tmpvar/work/tmp/npm-debug.log
+npm ERR! not ok code 0
+```
+
+Woohoo, that name is not taken lets take it.
+
+## project initialization
+
+It's probably best if you create a github repo before initializing your project
+
+
+```bash
+git clone [email protected]:user/your-first-node-module.git
+cd your-first-node-module
+```
+
+Ok, now we are ready to initialize `package.json` which will let npm know what the name of your module is as well as what dependencies it uses
+
+```
+
+$ npm init .
+This utility will walk you through creating a package.json file.
+It only covers the most common items, and tries to guess sane defaults.
+
+See `npm help json` for definitive documentation on these fields
+and exactly what they do.
+
+Use `npm install <pkg> --save` afterwards to install a package and
+save it as a dependency in the package.json file.
+
+Press ^C at any time to quit.
+name: (your-first-node-module) 
+version: (0.0.0) 
+description: very first module
+entry point: (index.js) 
+test command: 
+git repository: 
+keywords: 
+author: Elijah Insua <[email protected]> (http://tmpvar.com)
+license: (ISC) MIT
+About to write to /Users/tmpvar/work/tmp/your-first-node-module/package.json:
+
+{
+  "name": "your-first-node-module",
+  "version": "0.0.0",
+  "description": "very first module",
+  "main": "index.js",
+  "scripts": {
+    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
+  },
+  "author": "Elijah Insua <[email protected]> (http://tmpvar.com)",
+  "license": "MIT"
+}
+
+
+Is this ok? (yes) 
+```
+
+`npm init .` will ask you a couple of questions.  Once you've finished filling them out you can take a peek at the `package.json` file it generated to see what it actually did.
+
+```bash
+$ cat package.json
+{
+  "name": "your-first-node-module",
+  "version": "0.0.0",
+  "description": "very first module",
+  "main": "index.js",
+  "scripts": {
+    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
+  },
+  "author": "Elijah Insua <[email protected]> (http://tmpvar.com)",
+  "license": "MIT"
+}
+
+```
+
+You can also hand edit this file if you need to.
+
+## code time
+
+### some words of advice
+```
+  Modules should do one thing.  If you have a `lib` directory with a grab bag of utilities and
+  other _stuff_ in there, you should break those out into their own modules.
+  
+  Modules should be easy to digest and focused on the task they were created to perform
+  
+```
+### the hello world module
+
+So lets create a new file `index.js` and make it compute the area of a rectangle. Why? because it's a really easy demo!
+
+__index.js__
+```javascript
+module.exports = function(width, height) {
+  return width * height;
+};
+```
+
+the filename I chose was `index.js`, but you could name it whatever you want.  If you change it you should update `package.json`'s `main` property to match.
+
+
+#### what is that module.exports thing?
+
+When node loads your module it's actually wrapping it in a function that looks sort of like:
+
+```javascript
+function(__dirname, __filename, module, exports) {
+// ...
+}
+```
+
+
+Where `__dirname` and `__filename` are the current directory and filename of the file being loaded.
+
+
+`module.exports` provides a way for modules to expose functionality.  Lets take a look at how this would work with our example..
+
+`exports` is actually `module.exports` and can be safely ignored.  It's legacy, man!
+
+__node repl__
+
+```bash
+$ node
+> var area = require('./index.js');
+undefined
+> area(2,4)
+8
+>
+(^C again to quit)
+> 
+```
+(_hint_: press `control+c` 2 times to exit the repl)
+
+Because we set `module.exports` to a function, it is the only thing exported. We can call it directly!
+
+
+## publish time
+
+### if you are a new user
+
+```
+npm adduser <your username>
+```
+
+Follow the steps and you'll have an account that let's you publish to the npm registry!
+
+### lets get this module out into the world!
+
+
+Ok, we've made a module! Lets push it out so anyone can use it
+
+```
+$ npm version 1.0.0
+v1.0.0
+$ git add package.json test.js
+$ git commit -m "release 1.0.0"
+$ git tag 1.0.0
+$ git push && git push --tags
+$ npm publish
+```
+
+And that's it!
+
+_note_: the `git tag` of that operation is not required, but can be extremely useful if people report bugs against a specific version
+
+## homework
+
+ * add tests to your module
+ * read about [semver](http://semver.org/)