Can you explain what the Node.js platform is and how it is used in server-side application development?

Node.js is a platform for executing JavaScript code outside the browser, built on Google's V8 engine. It allows creating server-side applications using JavaScript, which simplifies development since the same language can be used on both client and server.

Main features of Node.js:

• Event-driven architecture and non-blocking I/O, enabling the handling of many requests simultaneously without blocking threads.
• Modularity: a large number of ready-made modules via npm (Node Package Manager).
• Used for creating web servers, APIs, real-time applications (chat, games), microservices.

Example of a simple HTTP server in Node.js:

const http = require('http');

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
  res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
  res.end('Hello from Node.js server!');
});

server.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log('Server is running on http://localhost:3000');
});