What are Node.js and npm?

- [Instructor] Before you can start working with Express, it's important for you to first understand Node.js and NPM, as you will need both of these in order to install and use Express. We are going to skin the surface on these technologies. So if you need more of a refresher on either one, please check out additional courses in the LinkedIn learning library. Node.js is an open source and cross-platform JavaScript runtime environment. For those of us who write JavaScript already, this provides us with the means of writing server side code for our applications. Basically, you can build a backend environment to communicate with the database, collect data and interact with files using JavaScript. This is incredibly convenient for those of us who are more familiar with writing code for the front end. Node.js has a vast library of modules to supplement its operations, often referred to as packages. Similar to libraries you might install in a JavaScript project, Node.js utilizes packages to provide access to any files you may need for your project. Node package manager or NPM is the package manager for Node.js packages. Conveniently, NPM is bundled and installed automatically with Node.js. Both Node.js and NPM are required to be installed in order to get started with Express. Before you install anything, double-check to see if you already have node installed by opening your terminal or whatever application you are using for command line operations. Next, type node-v, and you can see I have version 16.13 installed here already. And if it returns a version for you as well, you should be all set, node's already installed. Now let's double check to see what version of MPM you have installed. And we can do this by typing npm-v. I have version 8.1 installed with NPM, and if you already have everything installed, you're good to go ahead and proceed to the next video. But if not, let's head over to the official Node.js site and let's get node installed. This is the official website for Node.js, and on this download page, based on your operating system, Windows, MacOS, or Linux, you can select the proper installer and get the process started. Find the operating system for your machine under the LTS tab. LTS stands for long-term support. It is recommended that you start with this version as you learn Express in this course. So I'm going to go ahead and select MacOS installers, since I'm working on a Mac, and once that's downloaded, I'll go ahead and install. Now that you have node installed, let's jump back to the terminal and confirm that everything installed properly. Just like we did a little bit earlier, we can confirm the version of node that we're using by typing node-v. So now if you didn't have this installed, you should now see a version appearing for you that corresponds with the one that you downloaded from the Node.js official site. And let's just double-check to see our NPM version, just like we did earlier, npm-v. All right, and you should see a version for that come through as well. Excellent. So now that you have everything installed, you're now ready to start jumping into Express.