Learning web development: Native package managers

"So far, we have used npm for installing shell commands. However, its range is mostly limited to code written in JavaScript. Some important shell commands are written in other programming languages. For those, we need an operating system package manager. Popular ones include: Windows: WinGet MacOS: Homebrew Linux has a variety of package managers. You need to find out which one works best with your distribution."

"When working with HTTP(S), there is one very useful native shell command: curl. It may already be installed on your operating system. You can check like this: If you don't get an error message then curl is already installed. This is how you can install curl: Let's quickly try out curl. The simplest way is to use it as follows: It downloads a resource from the web and prints it to the terminal: curl https://example.com"

Operating system package managers install native binaries that run directly on the OS, enabling shell commands written in languages other than JavaScript. Npm installs JavaScript-based command-line tools but cannot provide native programs. Common OS package managers include WinGet for Windows, Homebrew for macOS, and various managers on different Linux distributions chosen per distribution. The curl tool is an important native command for HTTP(S) tasks; its presence can be checked in the shell and it can be installed via a native package manager. curl can download resources and display response headers, useful when interacting with local or remote web servers.

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