I’m pretty new to web development and have been learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Now I want to start my first real project but I’m confused about how Node.js, NPM, and Git all connect with each other.
I found a cool interactive map project on GitHub that I want to study and learn from. I managed to install Node.js and Git, then cloned the repository successfully. But now I have several questions about the workflow:
My main questions are:
-
When I cloned the repository, it created a new folder inside the folder I made. So now I have project/project structure. Is it safe to move the files up one level or will this mess up Git tracking?
-
After running npm install, I see it downloads a bunch of files. Does NPM read the package.json file to know what to download? And when I push changes back to GitHub, will all these downloaded files get uploaded too?
-
The project instructions say to run gulp build but I get an error saying command not found. Do I need to install Gulp globally first? How does the build command actually work behind the scenes?
-
I’ve seen other projects where after cloning you’re supposed to use const Library = require('project-name') but I don’t understand what this means or where to type this.
-
Some projects mention dev builds vs production builds. How can I find out what these build commands actually do?
I learn best by taking apart existing code so any help understanding this development workflow would be great. Thanks!
Once you understand the purpose of each tool, the workflow becomes clearer. Node.js executes your JavaScript code, NPM manages your project dependencies, and Git keeps track of version history. The nesting of folders occurs when you clone a repository into a folder named similarly to the repo. You can safely move everything up one level, as Git operates from the hidden .git folder in your repository. Running npm install fetches all the dependencies listed in the package.json file into the node_modules directory, and these files won’t be pushed to GitHub because of the .gitignore file. Each developer typically clones the repository and executes npm install to set up their local environment. For build processes like Gulp, refer to the scripts section in package.json. It’s advisable to use npm run build rather than installing globally to maintain version consistency in different projects.
Node.js, NPM, and Git can feel confusing at first, but you’ll get it with practice. Git tracks your code changes, NPM handles project dependencies, and Node.js runs your JavaScript.
Cloning into an existing directory is totally normal. Git tracks everything from where you cloned it, so moving files around won’t break anything. Go ahead and reorganize if it looks cleaner.
For Gulp - yeah, you usually need to install it globally with npm install --global gulp. Then gulp build should work fine. Don’t want global installs? Use npx gulp build instead - it’ll use your local version.
The require statement goes in your actual JavaScript files to import modules. Don’t type it in the command line. And dev vs production builds do different things - check the scripts section in your package.json to see what each one does.
Yeah, npm reads package.json and downloads everything to node_modules. Those files don’t get pushed to GitHub because of the .gitignore file. Check your project root for one - it tells git what to skip when uploading. The nested folder thing happens a lot. Just move everything up if it bugs you, git’ll still work fine.
This topic was automatically closed 4 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.