Chapter 2: A Beginner’s Guide to npm
by Michael Wanyoike and Peter Dierx
Node.js makes it possible to write applications in JavaScript on the server. It’s built on the V8 JavaScript runtime and written in C++—so it’s fast. Originally, it was intended as a server environment for applications, but developers started using it to create tools to aid them in local task automation. Since then, a whole new ecosystem of Node-based tools (such as Grunt, Gulp and webpack) has evolved to transform the face of front-end development.
To make use of these tools (or packages) in Node.js, we need to be able to install and manage them in a useful way. This is where npm, the Node package manager, comes in. It installs the packages you want to use and provides ...
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