Expanded Explanation
Node.js runs JavaScript outside the browser using Google's V8 engine and an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model. It powers everything from real-time chat servers to full API backends and CLI tools.
Real-world Applications
- Single language across stack
- Huge package ecosystem (npm)
- Great for I/O-bound workloads
- Single-threaded for CPU-heavy tasks
- Callback and async pitfalls if misused