What is Node.js?

Client side JavaScript is executed by the browser, 0:00 server side JavaScript is executed by a web server. 0:03 So how does JavaScript run on a web server? 0:06 Well usually it's with node.js. 0:08 Node allows developers to do much more with JavaScript than 0:10 just making websites interactive. 0:13 Node is a cross platform runtime environment for 0:16 developing server-side applications with JavaScript. 0:18 Since Node provides a way to run JavaScript outside of the browser, you can 0:22 use it to build anything from commandline tools to frameworks, web servers and more. 0:25 Node.js is based on Google Chrome's V8 open source JavaScript engine. 0:29 Even though the Chrome browser and 0:35 Node use the same JavaScript engine, they are two different run time environments. 0:37 As you learned in the previous video, 0:41 Node supplies JavaScript a different set of host objects compared to the browser. 0:43 Host objects like http, https, fs for file system, url, 0:48 os, and others are available to JavaScript to allow it to run outside the browser. 0:53 Where Node really shine is in building real-time multi-user 0:57 applications that handle many events or user actions at the same time. 1:01 Like tap apps for instance, also multi-player games, collaboration tools, 1:06 video-conferencing apps and more. 1:10 One of the best parts about Node is its driving ecosystem of free-open source 1:14 tools. 1:18 Npm, the node package manager, allows for the sharing and reuse of code and 1:19 software written by other developers in the JavaScript community. 1:24 Npm is the largest package ecosystem in the world with over 700,000 1:27 packages available to help developer set up and build awesome projects. 1:33 In addition, developers often use npm as a task runner 1:37 to help automate repetitive tasks and most of their built tool chain. 1:41 Now, since Node is a runtime environment, it does little out of the box, 1:45 so to make it easier to get setup and 1:50 working with Node, developers often use a Node framework. 1:52 And one of the most popular frameworks is Express. 1:55 Node and Express go hand in hand. 1:58 Express, allows developers to build scalable feature rich applications, 2:01 websites and more, on top of Node. 2:05 Express provides built in tools and functionality to take care of common tasks 2:08 like routing or handling requests at different URL paths. 2:13 Also serving static files and dynamic templating to render HTML pages. 2:17 Developers can also build REST API's with Express and 2:22 simple servers that talk to browsers. 2:26 As you've learned, Node is a powerful tool that can run JavaScript 2:29 applications on both the server side and client side. 2:32 Without Node, the modern landscape of JavaScript probably wouldn't be 2:35 as flourishing and as exciting. 2:38 Be sure to have a look at the teacher's notes to see some of the awesome 2:40 things you can build with Node and Express. 2:43