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Javascript

Javascript is a full, turing complete, programming language. In other words, you can use Javascript to write any program that you can dream up.

Node.js is a javascript runtime, which means, you can use Node.js to run javascript programs. Javascript is probably most famous for being used to develop Web sites. In fact, browsers can run a subset of javascript.

Here's a tutorial about Javascript

tip

Want to try running some javascript? Most browsers have a javascript console built right in. For example, in Chrome, try right clicking anywhere on a page and choose inspect. That should open a new window. Choose Console. Then put your cursor inside the console and type alert('Hola!'); and click enter. You should see an alert pop up :-)

Install Node.js

Node Version Manager​

The Node Version Manager can be used to easily install different versions of Node.js.

Follow this guide here to install Node Version Manager.

If installed correctly, you should be able to run this the nvm command from a terminal like this:

$ nvm list

    23.2.0
  * 22.3.0 (Currently using 64-bit executable)

Install Node.js (and Node Package Manager, npm)​

Use the nvm command to install node version 22.3.0 like this:

nvm install 22.3.0

Once Node is installed you should be able to run the node command from a terminal like this:

$ node
Welcome to Node.js v22.3.0.
Type ".help" for more information.

You should also be able to run npm like this:

$ npm --version
10.8.1

Install Yarn​

yarn is an example of a Dependency, Package Management, and Build Tool. It's a program written in javascript that helps you to manage and run javascript code.

note

Each programming language typically has it's own build tools. Probably the O.G build tool is make. For example, java programmers use maven and/or gradle. Python uses pip. Javascript, for some reason, has a bunch of tools, for example: npm and yarn.

To install yarn run the following command from a terminal:

npm install --global yarn

If yarn is installed, you should be able to run yarn like this:

$ yarn --version
1.22.22