This document provides an overview of Node.js, including its history as a project started in 2009 by Ryan Dahl, why JavaScript was chosen as the programming language, how its single-threaded and asynchronous event loop model works well for I/O-intensive jobs but can struggle with CPU-intensive tasks, and some gotchas to watch out for like using synchronous APIs, loops, recursion or causing excessive garbage collection which could freeze the process. The document aims to explain what Node.js is and some of its key characteristics and limitations for different use cases.
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