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Creating hello.js

1

Create a project folder

Open your terminal and create a folder for your practice files:
mkdir js-practice
cd js-practice
2

Create the file

Open this folder in VS Code:
code .
Create a new file called hello.js and add this code:
hello.js
const name = "Sarah";
const language = "JavaScript";

console.log(`Hello, ${name}!`);
console.log(`Welcome to ${language} for Web Dev.`);
console.log("Let's build something.");
3

Run it

Open the integrated terminal in VS Code (Ctrl+`) and run:
node hello.js

Hello, Sarah!
Welcome to JavaScript for Web Dev.
Let's build something.
That’s it. You just wrote and ran a JavaScript program.

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What’s happening here

const name = "Sarah";              // Create a variable
console.log(`Hello, ${name}!`);    // Print to the terminal
  • const declares a variable (you’ll learn more in the JavaScript Core section)
  • console.log() prints output to the terminal — JavaScript’s version of Python’s print()
  • Backticks ` with ${} let you embed variables in strings — like Python’s f-strings
const name = "Sarah";
console.log(`Hello, ${name}!`);

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Try the browser console

You can also run JavaScript directly in your browser. Open any browser, press F12, and click the Console tab. 
// Type this directly in the browser console:
console.log("This runs in the browser!");
2 + 2
// 4
The browser console evaluates expressions immediately and shows the result. You don’t need console.log() for simple expressions — the console shows the return value automatically.
Use the browser console for quick experiments. Use .js files with Node.js for anything you want to save.

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What’s next?

You’ve run JavaScript in two places — Node.js and the browser console. Let’s explore the different ways to run JavaScript during development.

Running JavaScript

All the ways to run JavaScript code