What is Node.js?
As you learned in Chapter 2, The State of JavaScript, Node.js is "JavaScript on the server". Before we move forward, let's delve a little deeper into understanding what that means.
Traditionally, JavaScript is interpreted by a JavaScript engine that converts JavaScript code into more optimized, machine-executable code, which then gets executed. The engine interprets the JavaScript code at the time it is run. This is unlike compiled languages such as C#, which must first be compiled into an intermediate language (IL), where this IL is then executed by the common language runtime (CLR), software similar in function to the JavaScript engine.
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Note
Technically, it is inaccurate to classify a language as interpreted or compiled—how a language is processed depends on the implementation. Someone can build a compiler that converts JavaScript into machine code and run it; in that instance, JavaScript would be a compiled language.However, since JavaScript is almost always interpreted...