What people commonly refer to as "Node" consists of four pieces: v8: javascript engine that powers chrome libuv: a cross-platform library that wraps most os-s

What people commonly refer to as "Node" consists of four pieces: v8: javascript engine that powers chrome libuv: a cross-platform library that wraps most os-specific logic node core: a set of C++ and javascript modules that provide the API and interact with V8 / libuv NPM: large set of user-contributed modules that provide functionality. Many people erroneously assume that all server-side javascript is node, but there are other platforms that predate node (such as Rhino)