Hack 82. Use the Node Package Manager to Add a Web Application Framework As a Third-Party Module

Adding modules to Node.js applications is simple with the Node Package Manager (NPM). Adding the Express web application framework to your application is as simple as adding it to your application manifest and installing it via NPM.

First, we need to understand how Node.js handles third-party modules. NPM is the package management system written for Node.js. Inspired by Linux package management systems, it helps by automating the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing third-party modules from your computer and Node.js applications. NPM maintains a remote repository of version and dependencies information that application developers can query and pull modules from to include in their applications.