What is Node.js?
A quick rundown of Node.js: what it is, where it runs, who maintains it, and why developers keep reaching for it.
Sources
- [1]Node.jswikipedia
- [2]OpenJS Foundationwikipedia
- [3]Node of Ranvierwikipedia
- [4]RootJS: Node.js Bindings for ROOT 6arxiv
- [5]Silent Spring: Prototype Pollution Leads to Remote Code Execution in Node.jsarxiv
The short answer
Node.js is a JavaScript runtime that runs outside the browser. It's open source, cross-platform (Windows, Linux, Unix, macOS, and more), and built on top of the V8 JavaScript engine, the same engine that powers Chrome [Source 1].
Before Node, JavaScript mostly lived inside web pages. Node took the language out of that box. Now you can write a server, a CLI tool, a build script, or a desktop app's backend in the same language you'd use for frontend code.
It's also one of the most commonly used web technologies according to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey [Source 1].
Who maintains it
Node.js is hosted by the OpenJS Foundation, which formed in 2019 out of a merger between the JS Foundation and the Node.js Foundation [Source 2].
The foundation hosts 38 open source JavaScript projects in total, including jQuery, webpack, Node-RED, Appium, and Dojo [Source 2]. Founding members included Google, Microsoft, IBM, PayPal, GoDaddy, and Joyent [Source 2]. So when you're running , you're running something with a fairly serious set of corporate backers behind it.
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