How to Start with JavaScript

Environments

There are primarily two ways to write and run JavaScript code.

• Browser ( legacy )

You can directly run scripts on browser base console ( native )

• NodeJs ( modern )

Configure an standalone environment to execute scripts.

NodeJs ( nodejs )

For a long while, JavaScript was hidden behind the walls of browser,
But in the recent past - Ryan dahl did something unexpected and brought the JavaScript runtime upfront to execute scripts without relying on any browser.

Configure

Step 1: Install an IDE

IDE stands for Integrated Development Environment.
My personal pick is VSCode, due to its beginner friendly UI and runs on lower devices.
Easy to start with if you're a beginner.

Download

Step 2: Install nodejs

Go to the official nodejs site and download the best suite for your machine ( PC ). The website is smart and it will suggest you the right download option.

Download

Run your first JavaScript code

Step 1: Create a directory and open it in vscode.

Step 2: Create a new file name it hello.js ( welcome.js, your-name.js )

console.log("Hello World!");

Step 3: Click on Terminal on the left above section of vscode and create a New Terminal.

Step 4: Type the below ( considering your file name is hello.js )

node hello.js

And press Enter.

Limitation of nodejs environment

Since nodejs is now a standalone runtime so you will lose all the browser specific actions and methods.

// Browser based alerts
alert("Alert");

// document is not available with in nodejs server
console.log(document);

// this is not accessible
console.log(this);

Thanks for Reading