Introduction

Welcome to npm-like-im-5! In this section, we'll take a look at the Node.js ecosystem in which npm lives and operates. Along the way, we'll define some key terms.

Learning Objectives

In this section we'll learn:

• how npm came to be a product, and then a company
• what motivated the desire for a product like npm
• what packages and modules are, and why they are different
• how other language ecosystems manage packages and dependencies
• how the co-evolution of the Node.js module loader and npm affects how npm works