Front-End Tooling with Gulp, Bower, and Yeoman

Appendix. Introduction to Node.js

This appendix covers

• The Node.js ecosystem for JavaScript-based tools
• NPM as a way to install new Node.js-based modules
• The difference between local installation and global installation
• The contents of a package.json file
• The proper way to handle version numbers

Back in 2009 some clever people at a company called Joyent released Node.js, a standalone implementation of Google’s V8 JavaScript engine. Its original goal was to provide an environment for fast network applications. Little did Joyent know that years later and long after the initial hype, developers would be using Node.js for all sorts of things: servers, command-line applications, and even webcam-driven quadcopter steering.

Even though it ...