Node.js

Node is the web developers’ operating system. (No, really).

It allows you to build anything using javascript.

Setting up node is the most difficult part of getting started with node.

Follow this tutorial to set up node and npm.

A word of caution: Do not install node from Ubuntu/Debian official repository. It will give you all sorts of trouble later on upgrading and stuff.

I do not remember how I installed the stuff, but the ideal installation will let you update npm packages without sudo. This will involve placing NODE_PATH in ~/.bashrc and I am sure you can find out how to do that on your own.

But once you have node and npm correctly installed, installing any node app globally will be like $ npm install -g appname and won’t require sudo

Node.js goes well with Unix philosophy

  • Browserify - lets you use node modules in the browser