Awesome! Let's get you started with Node.js — the right way 🎯

🧱 What is Node.js?

Node.js lets you run JavaScript on the server (outside the browser). It's perfect for building web servers, APIs, real-time apps, tools, and more.

⚙️ Step 1: Install Node.js

Go to https://nodejs.org
Download and install the LTS version for your OS.

Then verify in your terminal:

bash
node -v   mkdir my-first-node-appcd my-first-node-app

📄 Create a file

bash
touch app.js

✍️ Write some code

Open app.js and add:

js
console.log('Hello from Node.js!');

Then run:

bash
node app.js

✅ You should see:

csharp
Hello from Node.js!

📦 Step 3: Initialize a Project

bash
npm init -y

This creates a package.json — the file that manages your project dependencies and metadata.

🔥 Step 4: Create a Simple Web Server

Install Express (a popular web framework):

bash
npm install express

Now update app.js:

js
const express = require('express');const app = express();app.get('/', (req, res) => {  res.send('Hello World from Express!');});app.listen(3000, () => {  console.log('Server running at http://localhost:3000');});

Run it:

bash
node app.js

Then open http://localhost:3000 in your browser. Boom! 🎉

🎯 What Next?

You can build things like:

• REST APIs

• File upload tools

• Real-time chat apps (Socket.io)

• Command-line tools

• Connect to databases (MongoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL)