JavaScript Cookbook, 3rd Edition

Chapter 17. Node Basics

The dividing line between “old” and “new” JavaScript occurred when Node.js (referred to primarily as just Node) was released to the world. Yes, the ability to dynamically modify page elements was an essential milestone, as was the emphasis on establishing a path forward to new versions of ECMAScript, but it was Node that really made us look at JavaScript in a whole new way. And it’s a way I like—I’m a big fan of Node and server-side JavaScript development.

In this chapter, we’ll explore the basics of Node. At a minimum, you will need to have Node installed, as covered in “Installing the npm Package Manager (with Node.js)” or “Managing Node Versions with Node Version Manager”.

Managing Node Versions with Node Version Manager

Problem

You need to install and manage multiple versions of Node on your development machine.

Solution

Use Node Version Manager (NVM), which allows you to install and use any distributed version of Node on a per-shell basis. NVM is compatible with Linux, macOS, and Windows Subsystem for Linux.

To install NVM, run the install script using either curl or wget in your system’s terminal application:

## using curl:
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.37.2/install.sh | bash

## using wget:
wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.37.2/install.sh | bash

Note

If you are developing on Windows, we recommend using nvm-windows, which is unaffiliated with the NVM project, but provides ...