While these tools run through the Node.js environment, you’ll use another tool, NPM, to install them. For example, Grunt is a popular tool used to automate common tasks like compiling Sass files to CSS, making JavaScript files smaller so they load in less time, and compressing images to smaller file size. Node.js is used to create fast web servers by companies like Walmart, eBay and Netflix.īut because Node.js can be used on your desktop computer, programmers have created useful Node-based tools that help with the process of building web sites. It’s known as a “JavaScript runtime environment” which simply means it lets you write JavaScript code that can run on your computer free of any web browser. Node.js is a tool for building fast network applications. But in the past couple of years, JavaScript has started to play a larger role outside of the browser, due in large part to Node.js. Because it’s built into most web browsers, programmers and web designers can use JavaScript to add interactive features to websites that reach billions of people. JavaScript is one of the most popular programming languages in the world. Try our program out with a free seven-day trial today. If you’re looking to take your JavaScript coding to another level, Treehouse offers unlimited-access courses in JavaScript (and many other subjects) starting at $25/month.

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