Prerequisites:

• Install ROS Kinetic or Lunar
• [Install nodejs and the npm package manager, with nodejs version 6.x or 7.x recommended] (https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/)

To get started the "catkin" way:

$ mkdir -p ~/rosnodejs_ws/src
$ cd ~/rosnodejs_ws/src
$ git clone https://github.com/RethinkRobotics-opensource/rosnodejs_examples.git
$ cd rosnodejs_examples
$ npm install
$ cd ~/rosnodejs_ws
$ source /opt/ros/kinetic/setup.bash
$ catkin build

To run the programs, open three terminal windows (for illustration purposes).

Source environment varables (only needed once per terminal window)
$ source ~/rosnodejs_ws/devel/setup.bash
Start ROS Master
$ roscore

Source environment varables (only needed once per terminal window)
$ source ~/rosnodejs_ws/devel/setup.bash
Start the Talker Script
$ rosrun rosnodejs_examples talker.js

You should see output like the following:

[INFO] [1487773766.635] (ros): I said: [hello world 10]
[INFO] [1487773766.735] (ros): I said: [hello world 11]
[INFO] [1487773766.835] (ros): I said: [hello world 12]

Source environment varables (only needed once per terminal window)
$ source ~/rosnodejs_ws/devel/setup.bash
Start the Listener Script
$ rosrun rosnodejs_examples listener.js

You should see echoed output like the following:

[INFO] [1487773766.644] (ros): I heard: [hello world 10]
[INFO] [1487773766.743] (ros): I heard: [hello world 11]
[INFO] [1487773766.845] (ros): I heard: [hello world 12]

Congratulations! You've just published and subscribed over ROS using Javascript!