Node.js is a Javascript runtime that we will use for backend development (i.e. things that run outside a browser, usually as a server) for our web applications. In particular, you will use this to create a web server for your web applications rather than installing an independent service. It is a full implementation of Javascript and has a sophisticated collection of tools and packages ideal for developing applications with microservices. The official site for Node.js is nodejs.org although it’s an opensource project entirely hosted on GitHub and there are many other unofficial sources.
First Read about Node.js
Second Download and install Node.js. Get the LTS version, but any current release will be ok too.W When installing, be sure to select
third Check that your installation is working by opening a Terminal window in VS Code or if on the mac, open Terminal.app or if on Windows, open a cmd window. In the terminal window type “node” then hit enter at the prompt. Now type in the following line at the > prompt:
> console.log('Node.js is working!');
It should print out “Node.js is working!”
You can now exit node.js as follows
> .exit
It is strongly suggested that you keep a bookmark to the API reference for your installation which you can obtain in the DOCS page at nodejs.org