Node.js

Here's another important tool that we will be using throughout this book, Node.js. Node.js is a JavaScript runtime built on Chrome's V8 engine. It lets you run JavaScript outside your browser. Node.js has become really popular because it lets you run JavaScript on the server and is really fast thanks to its non-blocking I/O methods.
One other excellent advantage of Node.js is that it helps create command-line tools, which can be used for various purposes, such as automation, code scaffolding, and more, many of which we will be using in this book. At the time of writing this book, the latest Long Term Support (LTS) version of Node.js is 6.10.2. I'll be using this version throughout this book. You can install the latest LTS version available at the time you are reading this book.