npm - Mastering the Basics

Discover how npm acts as the JavaScript package manager, enabling you to publish reusable modules to the npm registry and manage package versions for easy updates.

Download the latest stable release of node to get npm, verify installed versions with node -v and npm -v, and keep npm up to date with npm update.

Explore how to use npm help to access command documentation, view typical npm commands, and apply the dash h option and help search to learn about install and other commands.

Create a package.json with npm init to manage dependencies, scripts, and common fields like name, version, description, main, author, and license, leveraging default prompts.

Set default author and license in package.json with npm config set, then verify with npm init and inspect or remove defaults using npm config get and delete.

Install local npm packages in your project folder with npm install, creating node_modules and updating package.json, and use --save and --save-dev to manage production and development dependencies like moment.

Learn how to uninstall local packages with npm by removing dependencies and devDependencies using npm uninstall with --save and --save-dev, and understand how this updates package.json.

Learn how to install npm packages globally using the -g flag, placing binaries in the path, and distinguish global versus local installations.

Learn how to uninstall a global npm package with npm uninstall -g moment, and note common command aliases such as npm install, npm remove, and npm rm.

List locally and globally installed npm packages with npm list, examine the tree of dependencies, and use --depth to limit output.

Learn semantic versioning in npm, using major, minor, and patch numbers to signal changes, and install specific versions (saving to package.json) with npm install @version --save.

Explore how npm install reads dependencies from package.json and installs them into node_modules, and compare caret, tilde, exact version, and star specifiers for major, minor, and patch updates.

Learn how to update npm packages to access new features, update specific packages like low dash and moment, and handle dev dependencies, global updates, and npm itself with administrator privileges.

Remove extraneous packages with npm prune, keeping only required dependencies; after prune, npm list --depth=0 shows only underscore.

Master npm shortcuts for fast commands: initialize with npm init -y to create a default package.json, install locally, save as a dependency or dev dependency, use global and view npm version.

Discover how npm scripts in package.json automate commands, using npm start to run the app with node, and leverage a start script for flexible entry points and development tasks.