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JavaScript Book

Your First JavaScript Program

Tradition dictates that the first program prints “Hello, world!”. Here’s how to do it in JavaScript.

In the browser console: Open the developer console and type:

console.log("Hello, world!");

Press Enter and you’ll see the message printed.

In an HTML file: Create a file index.html with the following content:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>My First JS</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <script>
      console.log("Hello, world!");
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

Open it in a browser and check the console.

In Node.js: Create a file hello.js with:

console.log("Hello, world!");

Run it with

Terminal window
node hello.js

Congratulations – you’ve just run your first JavaScript program!