A look back on the history of Node.js from 2009 to today

Believe it or not, Node.js is just 9 years old. In comparison, JavaScript is 23 years old and the web as we know it (after the introduction of Mosaic) is 25 years old. 9 years may seem like a short amount of time for a technology, but Node.js has had a lasting impact.

As a senior developer, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Node.js since its early days when it was just 2 years old. Even back then, with little information available, it was evident that Node.js was something big. In this blog post, I want to provide an overview of Node.js’s history to put things in perspective.

A little bit of history

JavaScript is a programming language that was created at Netscape as a scripting tool to manipulate web pages inside their browser, Netscape Navigator. Part of Netscape’s business model was to sell Web Servers, which included an environment called Netscape LiveWire, capable of creating dynamic pages using server-side JavaScript. So, while Node.js introduced server-side JavaScript, the idea was not entirely new. One key factor that contributed to the rise of Node.js was its timing. JavaScript had already gained recognition as a serious language, thanks to the emergence of “Web 2.0” applications like Google Maps and Gmail. Additionally, the competition between browsers led to significant improvements in JavaScript engine performance. V8, the engine that powers Node.js, is one such engine developed by the Chrome team.

2009

  • Node.js is born
  • The first form of npm is created

2010

  • Express is born
  • Socket.io is born

2011

  • npm hits 1.0
  • Big companies start adopting Node.js, including LinkedIn and Uber
  • Hapi is born

2012

  • Rapid adoption continues

2013

  • The first major blogging platform using Node.js, Ghost, is launched
  • Koa is born

2014

  • The Big Fork: io.js, a major fork of Node.js with the goal of introducing ES6 support and moving at a faster pace, is created

2015

  • The Node.js Foundation is established
  • io.js merges back into Node.js
  • npm introduces private modules
  • Node.js 4 is released (no versions 1, 2, or 3 were released)

2016

  • The leftpad incident brings attention to package management
  • Yarn is born, offering an alternative package manager
  • Node.js 6 is released

2017

  • npm focuses more on security
  • Node.js 8 and 9 are released
  • HTTP/2 support is introduced
  • V8 officially includes Node.js in its testing suite, making Node.js a target for JavaScript engines
  • npm reaches 3 billion downloads every week

2018

  • Node.js 10 and 11 are released
  • Experimental support for ES modules (.mjs) is introduced

2019

  • Node.js 12 and 13 are released
  • Work on Deno, a new runtime for server-side JavaScript with modern JavaScript support, begins

2020

  • Node.js 14 and 15 are released
  • GitHub (owned by Microsoft) acquires NPM

Tags: Node.js, JavaScript, history