Creating a simple application in Node.js is a straightforward process. We’ll create a simple web server application for our example.
Before creating an application, you must first have the Node.js platform installed on your machine. If you haven’t installed it, get the Node.js installer from the official Node.js website.
1. Create a new directory for your application.
Open a new command prompt/terminal window. Navigate to where you want to create your new project, then make a new directory and navigate into it: \`\`\` mkdir my-node-app cd my-node-app \`\`\`1. Initialize Node.js in the directory.
On your terminal, run the following command to create a package.json file: \`\`\` npm init \`\`\` After running this command, the system will ask you a series of prompts for the project details such as the project name, version, description, etc. After providing the necessary details, a `package.json` file will be created in your project directory.1. Create your Node.js application file.
Create a new file in your project directory and name it `app.js`. This file will hold the code for your application. You can do it using command line: \`\`\` touch app.js \`\`\`1. Write your application.
Open `app.js` file in any code editor and write a few lines of code. For example, we can create a simple HTTP server that will respond with ‘Hello World’ for every request: \`\`\`JavaScript var http = require(‘http’); // Include the http module // Create a server that listens on port 8000 http.createServer(function(request, response) { response.writeHead(200, { ‘Content-Type’: ‘text/plain’ }); // Success status, plain text response.end(‘Hello World\n’); // End response with a message }).listen(8000); console.log(‘Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8000/’); \`\`\`1. Run your application.
Back in your terminal, run the command `node app.js` to start your Node.js application: \`\`\` node app.js \`\`\` After running this command, you will see your console log `Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8000/`.1. Test your application.
Open up your web browser, and go to `http://localhost:8000`. You should see a webpage that says `Hello World`.That’s it! You’ve created your first Node.js application. This application simply starts a server at `http://localhost:8000` and responds with “Hello World” for every request. You can obviously create much more complex applications, but this should be enough to get you started.
