Node.js is an open-source, cross-platform JavaScript runtime environment used for executing JavaScript code outside of a web browser.
Node.js is a great web framework for beginners because it works great for data-intensive applications, like streaming and real-time apps, and Node.js makes it easy to start building the back-end.
Node.js allows us to use JavaScript everywhere and on any browser, including MacOS, Linux, and Windows. When we say everywhere, we mean the front-end, the middle-ware, and the back-end. Node.js is, therefore, part of some very popular web development stacks, such as the MERN stack, MEVN stack, and MEAN stack.
- Google Chrome V8 JavaScript Engine: This runtime environment is built on the Google Chrome V8 JavaScript runtime engine. In the same way a Java Virtual Machine translates bytecode, the Chrome V8 JavaScript engine takes JavaScript and makes it readable
- Modules/Packages: Node.js has npm, a node package manager, with a library of over 350,000 packages to help get your project or application off the ground with efficiency and ease.
- Event Driven, Single-Threaded I/O Model: JavaScript relies on user interactions or events to run. In most cases, code is run synchronously. Server requests and other such asynchronous tasks rely on a system of promises or async/await functions to handle these inputs and outputs.