In this lesson, you install all the tools you need to start building applications with Node.js. You install a version of Node.js that’s compatible with the latest JavaScript ES6 updates. Next, you install a text editor—software through which you’ll write your application’s code. Last, you give Node.js a test drive from your computer’s command-line terminal by using a Node.js sandbox environment known as REPL.
This lesson covers
- Installing Node.js
- Installing a text editor
- Setting up SCM and deployment tools
- Working with the Node.js REPL in terminal
1.1. Installing Node.jsNode.js is growing in popularity and support. For this reason, new versions to download are being deployed quite frequently, and it’s important to stay up to date with the latest versions to see how they may benefit or otherwise affect the applications you’re building. At this writing, the version of Node.js to download is 11.0.0 or later.
Note
The release of Node.js 8.8.1 comes with support for ES6 syntax. ES6 (ECMAScript 2015) is a recent update to JavaScript, with syntax improvements for defining variables, functions, and OOP code. To keep up with updates to JavaScript, download the latest stable version of Node.js as your development progresses.
You have a couple of ways to download and install Node.js, all of which are listed on the Node.js main site, https://nodejs.org.