Recently I began learning NodeJS. What is Node, how is it used, and what is it used for? Being a full stack software developer, you need multiple pieces all working together to create a full fledged application or website. NodeJS works on the back end which is not seen by the user. NodeJS as defined on nodejs.org, “is a JavaScript runtime built on Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine”. It is designed to build scalable network applications. Basically, NodeJS uses JavaScript on the server. NodeJS can generate dynamic page content, create CRUD functionality on the server, and collect form data and modify your database. How does someone get NodeJS? On the website nodejs.org, you can choose your operating system and download the setup files for node. Once downloaded and installed we have to learn how to get things up and running. The first thing I did was open my code editor, VSCode, and create a file called app.js. I then followed the setup documentation located at https://nodejs.org/en/docs/guides/getting-started-guide/. Below is a picture of how your app.js file will look.
Now, run your web server using node app.js. Visit http://localhost:3000 and you will see a message saying "Hello World". This is just a basic tutorial on Node. I have been diving deeper into Node and will do a follow up on ExpressJS which is web framework for Node. Hope you enjoyed reading this short insight into Node.js!
