Node.js was upgraded to version 12, which includes faster startup and better default heap limits, as well as many upgrades and new features. The Node.js Long Term Support (LTS) release will come out in October this year.
Node.js is an open-source, cross-platform JavaScript run-time environment that executes JavaScript code outside of a browser.
In Node.js 12, the V8 engine gets an upgrade to 7.4, providing async track traces, faster calls with arguments mismatch and faster JavaScript parsing. Node.js is also introducing TLS1.3 as its default max protocol. The update will now configure the JavaScript heap size based on available memory instead of using defaults set by V8 as it had in previous releases. Also, the default parser is switched to llhttp.
Version 12 includes better support for native modules in combination with Worker Threads, which are useful for performing CPU-intensive JavaScript operations, and an updated N-API, which makes it easier to use your own threads for native asynchronous functions.
Experimental features include “Diagnostic report” that allows the user to generate a report on demand or when certain events occur, and an updated experimental version of support for ES6 modules.
Minimum system requirements for Node.js can be viewed at this site.