I would also say that the economic realities of Croatia, Bosnia, and/or Herzegovina aren't really a good measure of how/why tech advances, nor of the consumer culture that propels those advances.
Yeah, people could get by with a Windows 7 PC, or a 6 year old Android phone, or whatever else. But, we're greedy. We want faster devices with bigger screens and flashier apps. It's not just an American thing. The wealthier EU countries, China, Japan, South Korea, etc. all push for these advancements.
You have to remember: it's a World Wide Web. When you publish a site, you can't simply assume your audience will only be the people you intend to reach, especially if it's a site that's written in English. You're inevitably going to have a global audience, and that audience is accustomed to a certain base-level of aesthetic and functional quality.
Regarding node, like always, go to the source: https://nodejs.org/en/docs/ This will help, too: https://www.npmjs.com/
npm is a part of node, so when you install node, you get the package manager for free. Virtually all languages use some sort of package manager, allowing developers to easily download and install 3rd party components in order to build their own app with. Because, in the real world, most of the problems that they teach you in school have already been solved, and writing your own code to, say, grab a HTTP request and parse it is simply a waste of time. JavaScript has npm or yarn (probably others). PHP has Composer. Ruby has gems. .NET everything has Nuget. And so on.
Yeah, people could get by with a Windows 7 PC, or a 6 year old Android phone, or whatever else. But, we're greedy. We want faster devices with bigger screens and flashier apps. It's not just an American thing. The wealthier EU countries, China, Japan, South Korea, etc. all push for these advancements.
You have to remember: it's a World Wide Web. When you publish a site, you can't simply assume your audience will only be the people you intend to reach, especially if it's a site that's written in English. You're inevitably going to have a global audience, and that audience is accustomed to a certain base-level of aesthetic and functional quality.
Regarding node, like always, go to the source: https://nodejs.org/en/docs/ This will help, too: https://www.npmjs.com/
npm is a part of node, so when you install node, you get the package manager for free. Virtually all languages use some sort of package manager, allowing developers to easily download and install 3rd party components in order to build their own app with. Because, in the real world, most of the problems that they teach you in school have already been solved, and writing your own code to, say, grab a HTTP request and parse it is simply a waste of time. JavaScript has npm or yarn (probably others). PHP has Composer. Ruby has gems. .NET everything has Nuget. And so on.
"I was thirsty for everything, but blood wasn't my style" - Live, "Voodoo Lady"
