In this tutorial, we will learn about the Express framework, an extensible web framework built for the Node.js ecosystem. Express enables you to create a web server that is more readable, flexible, and maintainable than one created using only the Node HTTP library, which can become complicated even for basic web servers.

Creating a New Express Project

Let's create a new Express project. First, navigate to the project location. In this example, we will create a project on the desktop. Create a new folder, for instance, `expresspro`. Open this folder and then open the command prompt by typing `cmd` in the file explorer URL and pressing Enter.

Inside the command prompt, run the following command:

npm init

Next, install the Express module by running the command:

npm install --save express

Now, open the project in Visual Studio Code. Create a new file called `index.js` and open it. Inside the index.js file, require the Express framework module:

const  express = require('express'); 

Set up the Express application, create a route, and return a text:

const app=express(); 
app.get('/', (request, response) => { 
  response.send('hello world'); 
}); 
app.listen(3000, ()=> { 
  console.log('Express intro running on localhost:3000'); 
}); 

The app.listen() function tells the server to start listening for connections on a particular port, in this case, port 3000.

Running the Express Application

Let's run the application. Switch to the command prompt and run the command:

node index.js

The application is now running on localhost:3000. Let's check it out. Switch to the browser and navigate to the URL localhost:3000. You should see the message `hello world`.

Creating Simple Routes in Express

Let's create some simple routes in Express. Go back to the index.js file and add the following routes:

app.get('/home', (request, response) => { 
  response.send(Home Page'); 
}); 
app.get('/about', (request, response) => { 
  response.send('About Page'); 
}); 
app.get('/contact', (request, response) => { 
  response.send('Contact Page'); 
});

Run the application again by switching to the command prompt and running the command:

node index.js

The application is now running. Go back to the browser and refresh the page. Add `/home` to the URL, and you should see the home page. Navigate to `/about`, and you should see the About Page. Finally, go to `/contact`, and you should see the Contact Page.

This is how you can create a new Express project and set up simple routes.