What is Node.js

Node.js is an open-source, cross-platform JavaScript runtime that runs JavaScript outside the browser. Built on Google Chrome's V8 engine, it lets you build fast, scalable network applications using a single language across the stack.

• Same language for frontend and backend (JavaScript everywhere).
• Non-blocking, event-driven I/O — perfect for real-time apps, APIs, and microservices.
• Massive ecosystem — over 2 million packages on npm, the world's largest registry.
• Used in production by Netflix, LinkedIn, PayPal, Uber, NASA, and Walmart.

js Run in compiler
// hello.js
console.log("Hello from Node.js!");
console.log(`Running on Node ${process.version}`);

bash
node hello.js

• I. Print your Node.js version using process.version.
• II. Create a hello.js that logs the current date.
• III. Find out what process.platform returns on your machine.