[Docs] Quickly explain how to use nvm, per #1030.

Briefly explain what nvm is and what it does, and how that is separate
from the npm package manager, as others say the summary only shows in
the Github UI.
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Alexander Stein 2016-03-19 17:16:39 +03:00
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# Node Version Manager [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/creationix/nvm.svg?branch=master)][3] # Node Version Manager [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/creationix/nvm.svg?branch=master)][3]
## Why? Node has a package manager, NPM, right?
Yes, it does. `nvm` manages different versions of the node interpreter and core libraries. Node is powerful, but the power of the Node ecosystem is the thousands of user-contributed libraries. If you want additional libraries and tools, you use `npm` for that.
So why `nvm`? Your operating system typically has one supported version of a programming language environment. So when developers want you to use any other version but the one installed in your operating system, you can't install these packages with `npm` because you have the wrong version of Node. With `nvm`, you have the power and flexibility to run many different versions of the Node platform simultaneously: for development, for testing, for daily use, the way you see fit.
## Installation ## Installation
First you'll need to make sure your system has a c++ compiler. For OSX, XCode will work, for Ubuntu, the build-essential and libssl-dev packages work. First you'll need to make sure your system has a c++ compiler. For OSX, XCode will work, for Ubuntu, the build-essential and libssl-dev packages work.