Guided Notes
Introduction to Node.js
What Node.js is, how it runs JavaScript outside the browser, the event loop, installing Node, and running your first script.
What Node.js is
Slide 1 / 4Node.js is a runtime that lets JavaScript run outside the browser — on servers, laptops, build tools and even devices. It embeds Google's V8 engine (the same one in Chrome) and adds APIs browsers don't have: files, networking, processes, the operating system.
Node powers web servers and APIs, command-line tools (npm itself, Vite, ESLint), real-time apps (chat, notifications), and much of the modern web build tooling.