Package Manager

We don't want to reinvent the wheel over and over; we want to use packages, libraries, frameworks, etc... to make our lives easier!

Types of package managers

We have several package managers:

• npm
• yarn
• pnpm
• bun
• deno
• ...

npm is the default package manager for node.js; it's the one that's installed by default!

Using npm

Initialize a project

npm init

This will ask you for some information and create a package.json file. You can then use it to install packages.

Install packages

npm install [package_name]

This will install the package in the node_modules folder. You can then use it in your code.

Install development packages

npm install [package_name] --save-dev

This will install the package in the node_modules folder and add it to the package.json file. You can then use it in your code.

Importing packages

To use a library, you can import the package into your code with the following syntax:

Modern syntax (ES6+)

import { package_name } from 'package_name';

Old syntax (CommonJS)

const { package_name } = require('package_name'); // for versions prior to 2015
// (you sometimes find this in old libraries)

Practical example with Three.js

npm init
npm install three

// example code with three.js
import { Three } from 'three';

let scene = new Three.Scene();
let camera = new Three.Camera();
let renderer = new Three.Renderer();

renderer.setSize(window.innerWidth, window.innerHeight);
document.body.appendChild(renderer.domElement);

renderer.render(scene, camera);