It enables full-stack JavaScript. One language on frontend and backend means developers can work across the stack, share code, and reduce context switching. This transformed web development by removing the language barrier between frontend and backend.
Node.js uses V8, Google's JavaScript engine, to compile and execute JavaScript on the server. It wraps V8 with libuv for async I/O, giving JavaScript system access like file and network operations that browsers do not have.
On the server, JavaScript has access to the file system, network, and processes. There is no DOM, no window, no browser sandbox. You build HTTP servers and connect to databases instead of manipulating web pages.
Before Node.js, JavaScript only ran in browsers. Backend development required a different language. Node.js let JavaScript run on the server, enabling full-stack JavaScript and reducing the need for developers to learn multiple languages.
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