Node.js is a software platform based on the V8 engine (which translates JavaScript into machine code), transforming JavaScript from a highly specialized language into a general-purpose language. Node.js adds the ability for JavaScript to interact with input/output devices via its API (written in C++), to connect other external libraries written in different languages, providing calls to them from JavaScript code. Node.js is used primarily on the server, acting as a web server, but there is an opportunity to develop in Node.js and desktop window applications (using NW.js, AppJS or Electron for Linux, Windows and Mac OS)
Improvements and new features in this version are also aimed at improving the workflow of Node.js developers. Important updates and features include the addition of the Node.js API for native developers, async_hooks, JS bindings for the inspector, Buffer with null filling, util.promisify, and so on.