I'm trying to use the command line tools of UglifyJs to minify my files. On the git page it says to download it using npm: npm install uglify-js -g.
Is that the only way to download it? My website doesn't use node.js so I'm wondering if there's an alternate way.
You can download it directly from it's github repo. However, I do agree with JohnnyHK it's better to install via npm as it will handle any dependancies required by UglifyJS.
When installing a module using npm -g, you're installing a command-line utility that uses node.js for its run-time rather than a module for a node.js based web site.
So it's still easiest to use npm to install it.
Related
I'm using npm to download libraries.
Is it correct to say that I'm using node.js ?
NPM is a package manager for Node.js packages, or modules.
NPM hosts thousands of free packages to download and use.
The NPM program is installed on your computer when you install Node.js
Node.js As an asynchronous event-driven JavaScript runtime, Node.js is designed to build scalable network applications.
https://nodejs.org/en/about/
Node.js is all about modularity, and with that comes the need for a quality package manager; for this purpose, npm was made. With npm comes the largest selection of community-created packages of any programming ecosystem, which makes building Node.js apps quick and easy.
https://nodejs.org/en/docs/meta/topics/dependencies/#npm
Hope I helped you see the differences.Best Regards !
Yes nodejs is a runtime environment for javascript docs here like JRE is for java. You can use Node to run javascript in you system otherwise you need a browser to run it
NPM is a library for javascript read here, you use that to install libraries incase you need to use some extra features you dont wanna code yourself
Nodejs can run w/o use of npm like you can use other library repo like yarn likewise you can use other run time environment like Deno and use npm with that w/o using node
What is the difference between installing a package locally and globally using npm?
From my understanding:
Locally install: npm install <package>
This package/module will find on your local node_modules folder and
can only be usable for this project.
This package/module can be accessible in using require("package")
from code.
This package/module can't be accessible in command line interface.
Globally install: npm install <package> -g
This package/module will find on where node is installed in your machine like /usr/local and can be usable everywhere.
This package/module can't be accessible in using require("package")
from code.
This package/module can be accessible in command line interface.
Please let me know. If I could misunderstand anything here. Thanks!
You are correct except for 1 point.
The local packages exposing CLI utilities can be accessed from the command line. Newer versions of NPM create this .bin/ directory inside the local node_modules/.
Whenever you try to use a tool (let's take babel for example), if you use it from the command line and you have it installed in your project, npm will properly identify that package and run it's CLI for you.
Here's a useful article on the topic.
http://www.2ality.com/2016/01/locally-installed-npm-executables.html
Global modules are mostly tools like gulp, yoman or any other module you use in your daily work.
Local modules are the dependencies of your project. You should never depend on a global module in your project. Even dependencies as gulp should be a local dependency in your dev-dependency section.
I need to use a package on npm, so I'm trying to learn how to use npm. The tutorials are fine, but I feel like they're assuming I know node.js, which I don't, and I'm having a hard time finding a tutorial for npm that doesn't also assume I know node.js. Do I need to learn node.js to use npm?
you don't need to know anything about node to use npm, its just a package manager. Install npm and then npm install all the packages you want. You will need to learn the npm toolchain, however, and it also helps to know which options are available for the various commands.
At the very least you should know the difference between installing a package globally and installing a package locally, i.e npm install -g vs. npm install respectively.
I'm using JointsWP (an excellent Foundation 6 port to Wordpress).
I'm using the Sass version and it's working great. However, I seem to have to install npm with every project. Is this nessesary?
Is there a way to install npm globally and link to it from my project? Or have the project find it automatically?
I think you are confused about what the command npm install actually does. npm install installs all the npm dependencies for your project into the node_modules directory. It doesn't actually install npm. To run npm install you have to have Node.js installed (npm is included with node).
So to answer your question, yes it is necessary to run npm install for every project.
Relevant Article: Global vs Local installation
The article above shared by Colin Marshall is great and sums up the answer perfectly.
In general, the rule of thumb is:
If you’re installing something that you want to use in your program,
using require('whatever'), then install it locally, at the root of
your project. If you’re installing something that you want to use in
your shell, on the command line or something, install it globally, so
that its binaries end up in your PATH environment variable.
So to answer your question, is it possible? Yes.
Is it recommended? No.
https://nodejs.org/en/blog/npm/npm-1-0-global-vs-local-installation/
You can install gulp sass globally with the command:
npm install -g gulp-sass
I just ran this line of code
npm install -g csslint
CSSlint seems great but I want to add the ability to prettify my css by putting in custom code. The goal is to have a command line interface where I can format my css before pushing the code to the server.
"-g" stand for installing globally correct?
Where does this library get installed to and how do I access it? I thought it would be in my user/local/bin but I couldn't find it.
Thanks!
use npm root -g to see where modules get installed. If you want to use it in your code using require() then install it locally i.e. without using -g option. More details here https://npmjs.org/doc/faq.html
I believe it's going to depend on your npm settings, but my global npm binaries are in /usr/local/share/npm/bin