
You’ll learn more about npm in the next section. NOTE: When you install Node.js, you also get npm, the Node.js ecosystem of external libraries (multiple files of code other people wrote) that can be imported into your future projects. The simplest way to install Node.js is to go to the download link and follow the instructions and prompts to download the installer for the latest version of Node.js. There are a couple of ways to download and install Node.js, all of which are listed on the Node.js main site.īecause Node.js is platform-independent, you can download and install it on macOS, Windows, or Linux and expect full functionality. To keep up with updates to JavaScript, download the latest stable version of Node.js as your development progresses. ES6 (ECMAScript 2015) is a recent update to JavaScript, with syntax improvements for defining variables, functions, and OOP code altogether. NOTE: The release of Node.js 7.6 comes with support for ES6 syntax.

At the time of writing, the version of Node.js to download is 7.6 or greater.

Because of this, new versions to download are being deployed quite frequently, and it’s important to stay up to date with the latest versions to see how they may benefit or otherwise impact the applications you’re building. Node.js is growing in popularity and support.
