Being that JavaScript was written as a scripting language for the browser and lived within browsers only for about 15 years, it was quite the surprise when the developers of Node.js moved it to the desktop/server. Node.js is the Chrome V8 JavaScript execution environment pulled out of the Chrome browser and modified to run directly on computers, whether those computers be desktops, laptops, or servers, it really doesn’t matter, JavaScript now runs everywhere.

As soon as JavaScript could be executed on computers it opened up new possibilities. Probably the best thing to happen was that web developers could now use JavaScript program their web applications from the back-end all the way to the front-end, it was no longer simply a scripting language for the browser. No longer do web developers need to know other programming languages or rely on other developers who do to build their back-end server-base systems, it can all be done in JavaScript.

In this technical tutorial series, you learn the basics of the Node.js JavaScript execution environment and you write your first Node.js application that can be executed on your computer, not your browser.