You really do not need to set up your own environment to start learning Node.js. Reason is very simple, we already have set up Node.js environment online, so that you can execute all the available examples online and learn through practice. Feel free to modify any example and check the results with different options. Try the following example using the option available at the top right corner of the below sample code box (on our website) − /* Hello World! program in Node.js */ console.log(“Hello World!”);

For most of the examples given in this tutorial, you will find a Try it option, so just make use of it and enjoy your learning.

Local Environment Setup

If you are still willing to set up your environment for Node.js, you need the following two softwares available on your computer, (a) Text Editor and (b) The Node.js binary installables.

Text Editor

This will be used to type your program. Examples of few editors include Windows Notepad, OS Edit command, Brief, Epsilon, EMACS, and vim or vi.
Name and version of text editor can vary on different operating systems. For example, Notepad will be used on Windows, and vim or vi can be used on windows as well as Linux or UNIX.
The files you create with your editor are called source files and contain program source code. The source files for Node.js programs are typically named with the extension “.js”.
Before starting your programming, make sure you have one text editor in place and you have enough experience to write a computer program, save it in a file, and finally execute it.

The Node.js Runtime

The source code written in source file is simply javascript. The Node.js interpreter will be used to interpret and execute your javascript code.
Node.js distribution comes as a binary installable for SunOS , Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows operating systems with the 32-bit (386) and 64-bit (amd64) x86 processor architectures.
Following section guides you on how to install Node.js binary distribution on various OS.

Download Node.js archive

Download latest version of Node.js installable archive file from Node.js Downloads. At the time of writing this tutorial, following are the versions available on different OS.

OS	Archive name
Windows	node-v6.3.1-x64.msi
Linux	node-v6.3.1-linux-x86.tar.gz
Mac	node-v6.3.1-darwin-x86.tar.gz
SunOS	node-v6.3.1-sunos-x86.tar.gz

Installation on UNIX/Linux/Mac OS X, and SunOS

Based on your OS architecture, download and extract the archive node-v6.3.1-osname.tar.gz into /tmp, and then finally move extracted files into /usr/local/nodejs directory. For example:
$ cd /tmp
$ wget http://nodejs.org/dist/v6.3.1/node-v6.3.1-linux-x64.tar.gz
$ tar xvfz node-v6.3.1-linux-x64.tar.gz
$ mkdir -p /usr/local/nodejs
$ mv node-v6.3.1-linux-x64/* /usr/local/nodejs
Add /usr/local/nodejs/bin to the PATH environment variable.

OS	Output
Linux	export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/nodejs/bin
Mac	export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/nodejs/bin
FreeBSD	export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/nodejs/bin

Installation on Windows

Use the MSI file and follow the prompts to install the Node.js. By default, the installer uses the Node.js distribution in C:\Program Files\nodejs. The installer should set the C:\Program Files\nodejs\bin directory in window’s PATH environment variable. Restart any open command prompts for the change to take effect.

Verify installation: Executing a File

Create a js file named main.js on your machine (Windows or Linux) having the following code.

/* Hello, World! program in node.js */
console.log("Hello, World!")

Now execute main.js file using Node.js interpreter to see the result −
$ node main.js
If everything is fine with your installation, this should produce the following result −
Hello, World!

Node.js – First Application

Before creating an actual “Hello, World!” application using Node.js, let us see the components of a Node.js application. A Node.js application consists of the following three important components −
• Import required modules − We use the require directive to load Node.js modules.
• Create server − A server which will listen to client’s requests similar to Apache HTTP Server.
• Read request and return response − The server created in an earlier step will read the HTTP request made by the client which can be a browser or a console and return the response.

Creating Node.js Application

Step 1 – Import Required Module

We use the require directive to load the http module and store the returned HTTP instance into an http variable as follows −
var http = require(“http”);

Step 2 – Create Server

We use the created http instance and call http.createServer() method to create a server instance and then we bind it at port 8081 using the listen method associated with the server instance. Pass it a function with parameters request and response. Write the sample implementation to always return “Hello World”.

http.createServer(function (request, response) {
// Send the HTTP header 
// HTTP Status: 200 : OK
// Content Type: text/plain
response.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});

// Send the response body as "Hello World"
response.end('Hello World\n');
}).listen(8081);

// Console will print the message
console.log('Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8081/');

The above code is enough to create an HTTP server which listens, i.e., waits for a request over 8081 port on the local machine.

Step 3 – Testing Request & Response

Let’s put step 1 and 2 together in a file called main.js and start our HTTP server as shown below −

var http = require("http");

http.createServer(function (request, response) {
// Send the HTTP header 
// HTTP Status: 200 : OK
// Content Type: text/plain
response.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});

// Send the response body as "Hello World"
response.end('Hello World\n');
}).listen(8081);

// Console will print the message

console.log(‘Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8081/’);
Now execute the main.js to start the server as follows −
$ node main.js
Verify the Output. Server has started.
Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8081/

Make a Request to the Node.js Server

Open http://127.0.0.1:8081/ in any browser and observe the following result.

n 16

Congratulations, you have your first HTTP server up and running which is responding to all the HTTP requests at port 8081.
So, this brings us to the end of blog. This Tecklearn ‘NodeJS environment set-up and creating First Application’ blog helps you with commonly asked questions if you are looking out for a job in NodeJS Programming. If you wish to learn NodeJS and build a career in NodeJS Programming domain, then check out our interactive, Node.js Training, that comes with 24*7 support to guide you throughout your learning period.

Node.js Training

About the Course

Tecklearn’s Node.js certification training course familiarizes you with the fundamental concepts of Node.js and provides hands-on experience in building applications efficiently using JavaScript. It helps you to learn how to develop scalable web applications using Express Framework and deploy them using Nginx. You will learn how to build applications backed by MongoDB and gain in-depth knowledge of REST APIs, implement testing, build applications using microservices architecture and write a real-time chat application using Socket IO. Accelerate your career as a Node.js developer by enrolling into this Node.js training.

Why Should you take Node.js Training?

• As per Indeed.com data, the average salary of Node.js developer is about $115000 USD per annum.
• IBM, LinkedIn, Microsoft, GoDaddy, Groupon, Netflix, PayPal, SAP have adopted Node.js – ITJungle.com
• There are numerous job opportunities for Node.js developers worldwide. The job market and popularity of Node.js is constantly growing over the past few years.

What you will Learn in this Course?

Introduction to Node.js

• What is Node.js?
• Why Node.js?
• Installing NodeJS
• Node in-built packages (buffer, fs, http, os, path, util, url)
• Node.js Modules
• Import your own Package
• Node Package Manager (NPM)
• Local and Global Packages

File System Module and Express.js

• File System Module
• Operations associated with File System Module
• JSON Data
• Http Server and Client
• Sending and receiving events with Event Emitters
• Express Framework
• Run a Web Server using Express Framework
• Routes
• Deploy application using PM2 and Nginx

Work with shrink-wrap to lock the node module versions

• What is shrink-wrap
• Working with npmvet
• Working with outdated command
• Install NPM Shrinkwrap

Learn asynchronous programming

• Asynchronous basics
• Call-back functions
• Working with Promises
• Advance promises
• Using Request module to make api calls
• Asynchronous Commands

Integration with MongoDB and Email Servers

• Introduction to NoSQL Databases and MongoDB
• Installation of MongoDB on Windows
• Installation of Database GUI Viewer
• Inserting Documents
• Querying, Updating and Deleting Documents
• Connect MongoDB and Node.js Application
• Exploring SendGrid
• Sending emails through Node.js application using SendGrid

REST APIs and GraphQL

• REST API
• REST API in Express
• Postman
• MongoDB Driver API
• Express Router
• Mongoose API
• GraphQL
• GraphQL Playground

Building Node.js Applications using ES6

• ES6 variables
• Functions with ES6
• Import and Export withES6
• Async/Await
• Introduction to Babel
• Rest API with ES6
• Browsing HTTP Requests with Fetch
• Processing Query String
• Creating API using ES6
• Building Dashboard API
• Creating dashboard UI with EJS
• ES6 Aside: Default Function Parameters
• Data Validation and Sanitization

User Authentication and Application Security

• Authentication
• Types of Authentication
• Session Vs Tokens
• JSON Web Tokens
• Bcrypt
• Node-local storage

Understand Buffers, Streams, and Events

• Using buffers for binary data
• Flowing vs. non-flowing streams
• Streaming I/O from files and other sources
• Processing streams asynchronously
• File System and Security

Build chat application using Socket.io

• Getting Started
• Adding Socket.io To Your App
• Exploring the Front-end
• Sending Live Data Back & Forth
• Creating the Front-end UI
• Showing Messages In App
• Working with Time
• Timestamps
• Show Message Time In Chat App
• Chat application Project

Microservices Application

• Why Microservices?
• What is Microservices?
• Why Docker?
• What is Docker?
• Terminologies in Docker
• Child Processes
• Types of child process

266