node is a wrapper on high-performance V8 JavaScript runtime. node is often referred to as server side javascript. But a better way to describe it is Read-Evaluate-Print-Loop.
Node.js is an event-driven language that supports event-loop. Reduce complexity by sidestepping concurrency.
Allows sharing code between client and server side.
You can download and install node.js in your computer and use node.js command prompt to learn node.js
For windows: just download and install the .exe installer
For linux: https://github.com/joyent/node/wiki/Installing-Node.js-via-package-manager
linux install node.js in /usr/lib/node, npm in /usr/lib/npm
Eclipse provides Node debugging