What does npm mean for socket.io/installing stuff?

Question

I'm a real noob at this. I've just began scratching the surface on node.js/socket.io/html5 and stuff. I finally figured out how to use my command prompt (using windows) to launch a "hello world" application with the command "node example.js." But what does npm mean? When I'm looking at socket.io it says to install, npm install socket.io Does that mean I need to extract all the files into my nodejs folder?

I'm confused.

Answer 1

npm is a generally awesome program for managing packages and dependencies (especially while you have a network connection). It does lots of fancy things and is most commonly used with node.js projects. That said, it's an unfortunately common misconception that the acronym stands for "node package manager".

In reality, npm doesn't actually stand for anything as it's not an acronym. With taglines like "no problem, meatbag" the npm organization playfully resists the trend of acronymization. It should always be referenced in lowercase to avoid confusion with the National Association of Pastoral Musicians.

Answer 2

npm is a command line interface program to manage node.js libraries (it stands for node package manager - at least it did initially, they since turned this into a bit of a running gag - thanks to @spex in the comments for that link). Check out the docs, it is awesome and amazing. As you mentioned, just type npm install in a command prompt, and voilà, you have the library in your local node modules.