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TypeScript is a strongly typed superset of JavaScript. Its primary design goal is to statically identify constructs likely to be errors without any runtime penalties. By adopting TypeScript in your project (with the strictest possible compiler options), you can eliminate a whole class of programmer errors at compile time. For example, after conducting a postmortem analysis of bugs, it was estimated that 38% of bugs in the Airbnb codebase were preventable with TypeScript.
When you migrate your entire project over to TypeScript, errors like "undefined is not a function", syntax errors, or reference errors should no longer exist in your codebase. Thankfully, this is not as daunting as it sounds. Migrating your entire Node.js application to TypeScript can be done incrementally so that you can start reaping the rewards immediately in crucial parts of the codebase. You can also adopt a tool like ts-migrate if you intend to perform the migration in one go.
You should always run your servers using a process manager that will automatically restart them in the event of a crash. A common one is PM2, but you also have systemd or upstart on Linux, and Docker users can use its restart policy. Once this is in place, reliable service will be restored almost instantly, and you'll still have the details of the uncaught exception so that it can be investigated and corrected promptly. You can go further by running more than one process and employ a load balancer to distribute incoming requests. This will help to prevent downtime in case one of the instances is lost temporarily.
Use an error monitoring service, such as Honeybadger, to capture and analyze your errors. This can help you drastically improve the speed of debugging and resolution.
For more information on how Honeybadger integrates with Node.js web frameworks, see the full documentation or check out the sample Node.js/Express application on GitHub.
On its own, the JavaScript language doesn't do much to help you find mistakes in the logic of your program, so you have to run the program to determine whether it works as expected. The presence of an automated test suite makes it far more likely that you will spot and fix various programmer errors, especially logic errors. They are also helpful in ascertaining how a function deals with atypical values. Using a testing framework, such as Jest or Mocha, is a good way to get started with unit testing your Node.js applications.
On its own, the JavaScript language doesn't do much to help you find mistakes in the logic of your program, so you have to run the program to determine whether it works as expected. The presence of an automated test suite makes it far more likely that you will spot and fix various programmer errors, especially logic errors. They are also helpful in ascertaining how a function deals with atypical values. Using a testing framework, such as Jest or Mocha, is a good way to get started with unit testing your Node.js applications.