The Greg Needs This Guide to Node.js (aka "Absolute Beginner's Guide to Node.js")

Modulus - An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Node.js

There's no shortage of Node.js tutorials out there, but most of them cover specific use cases or topics that only apply when you've already got Node up and running. I see comments every once and awhile that sound something like, "I've downloaded Node, now what?" This tutorial answers that question and explains how to get started from the very beginning.

What is Node.js?

A lot of the confusion for newcomers to Node is misunderstanding exactly what it is. The description on nodejs.org definitely doesn't help.

An important thing to realize is that Node is not a webserver. By itself it doesn't do anything. It doesn't work like Apache. There is no config file where you point it to you HTML files. If you want it to be a HTTP server, you have to write an HTTP server (with the help of its built-in libraries). Node.js is just another way to execute code on your computer. It is simply a JavaScript runtime.

Installing Node

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A great guide for a guy like me who knows how to spell Node.js (mostly) but that's about it...

(via codeship - The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Node.js)