I spent all day of 8/10/2021 failing to publish my first package ever to npm publicly, and in the early hours of 8/11/2021 hopefully my 2nd and attempt goes much smoother. For the record, it did, now 2:13 am and I've got this down.

This is a README.md file, initially stored in an empty folder called scripts (also the package name, now that it is published, preceded with my scope - @stevewilliam138/scripts).

I created it before running npm init --scope=@stevewilliam138 -y command to create package.json. Using --scope in this way makes our default "name" field in package.json be set to the folder name (preceded by the scope). If README.md exists before creating package.json, part of it is used as the "description" field in that file by default. The "desciption" field doesn't include this whole file, nor even reads from the start, but I will learn more about this later... I have also previously configured my "author" field from the command line with these:

npm set init.author.name "Steve Williams"

npm set init.author.email "[email protected]"

npm set init.author.url "https://stevewilliams2021.github.io/

With all this, auto-generated package.json files always have a package name with my public scope (from init), version 1.0.0 (default), author set with my information, and a description if a README.md exists.

Version 1.0.0

Nothing more than this file, published with npm publish --access public, and my package.json file.

Version 1.0.1

I added index.js. This has a function printMsg() that can be utilized in another package or module by first installing this package (npm install @stevewilliam138/scripts in project directory), and then adding and using it with:

const scripts = require('@stevewilliam138/scripts');

scripts.printMsg();

Version 1.0.2

Forgot to update README.md on 1.0.1, updated to reflect that but it's still ugly, just look.

Version 1.0.3

Fixed README.md formatting (not).

Version 1.0.4

Fixed README.md formatting.

Version 1.0.5

Fixed README.md formatting!!! Jeez lol.

Version 1.0.6

Still just README.md formatting, how fun. Need to start previewing my .md files before pushing.