Setting Up a Node.js Project: Best Practices for Beginners

1. Installing Node.js and npm

Before setting up a Node.js project, you need to install Node.js and npm (Node Package Manager).

• Download from nodejs.org
• Verify installation:

node -v 
npm -v

2. Initializing a New Node.js Project

Create a new project folder and initialize a package.json file:

mkdir my-node-app
cd my-node-app
npm init -y

• This generates a package.json file, which stores project metadata and dependencies.

3. Setting Up a Git Repository

Initialize a Git repository for version control:

git init
echo "node_modules/" >> .gitignore

• Create a .gitignore file to exclude unnecessary files like node_modules.

4. Installing Essential Dependencies

Depending on your project, install required packages.
For an Express.js app:

npm install express

For development dependencies (like Nodemon for auto-reloading):

npm install --save-dev…