Timers

Part of the Node.js Basics section of Coddy's Node.js journey. Lesson 19 of 24.

A reminder should count down on screen, one step at a time, and then stop.

setInterval(fn, ms) runs fn every ms milliseconds until clearInterval(id) stops it; setTimeout runs once. A program ends only when no timer is left, so an interval you never clear keeps it running.

let lap = 1;
const id = setInterval(() => {
    console.log(`Lap ${lap}`);
    lap += 1;
    if (lap > 3) {
        clearInterval(id);
    }
}, 500);

The terminal stops a program after 5 seconds, which is how you notice a forgotten clearInterval.

Challenge

Easy

remind <n> prints 3, 2, 1, then the text of note n, one line every 200 ms, and the program ends.
A bad number answers like done: No note <word> and exit code 1.

Run node notes.js remind 1, then node notes.js remind 9.

Try it yourself

// Your notes tool starts here.
import { rmSync } from 'node:fs';
import path from 'node:path';
import { formatNote } from './format.js';
import stats from './legacy/stats.cjs';
import store from './store.js';

const [command, ...words] = process.argv.slice(2);
const text = words.join(' ');

const noteNumber = (word) => {
    const n = Number(word);
    if (!Number.isInteger(n) || n < 1 || n > store.notes.length) {
        console.error(`No note ${word}`);
        process.exit(1);
    }
    return n;
};

if (command === 'add') {
    const n = await store.add(text);
    console.log(`Saved note ${n}.`);
} else if (command === 'list') {
    const owner = process.env.NOTES_OWNER ?? 'you';
    console.log(`Notes for ${owner}`);
    if (store.notes.length === 0) {
        console.log('No notes yet');
    }
    const lines = store.notes.map((note, i) => formatNote(i + 1, note));
    if (store.settings.sort === 'newest') {
        lines.reverse();
    }
    lines.forEach((line) => console.log(line));
} else if (command === 'where') {
    const file = path.join(process.cwd(), 'notes.json');
    console.log(file);
    console.log(path.basename(file));
} else if (command === 'stats') {
    console.log(`${store.notes.length} notes, ${stats.countWords(store.notes)} words`);
} else if (command === 'done') {
    const removed = await store.remove(noteNumber(words[0]));
    console.log(`Done: ${removed}`);
} else if (command === 'clear') {
    rmSync('notes.json', { force: true });
    console.log('Deleted notes.json');
} else {
    if (command) {
        console.error(`Unknown command: ${command}`);
    }
    console.error('Usage: node notes.js <command> [words]');
    process.exit(1);
}