Installing Node.js and npm

Node.js is a platform that allows us to write server-side applications with a client-side language that we're all familiar with—JavaScript. However, the real benefit of Node.js is that it uses an event-driven, nonblocking I/O model, which is perfect for building data-intensive, real-time applications. It means that with Node.js, we should be able to handle an incoming stream of tweets and process them as soon as they arrive; just what we need for our project.

Let's install Node.js. We'll be using version 8.7.0 because at the time of writing this book, that's the latest version of Node.js. Jest is a testing framework from Facebook that you'll learn about in Chapter 9, Testing Your React Application with Jest.

Download the installation package for your OS from one of these links:

• OS X: http://nodejs.org/dist/v8.7.0/node-v8.7.0.pkg

• Windows 64-bit: http://nodejs.org/dist/v8.7.0/node-v8.7.0-x64.msi

• Windows 32-bit: http://nodejs.org/dist/v8.7.0/node-v8.7.0-x86.msi

Run...