[Bahamut]

Node provides some very handy tools for working locally. For example, usage of Bower, the client-side dependency, uses Node. Node also adds the ability to do nifty stuff like utilizing Livereload for automatically refreshing a page when you make an edit to a file.

I will admit, using all these tools was initially intimidating for me, but getting comfortable with them was extremely rewarding.

[dlwiest]

Oh, there's no question that local Apache and Node servers can be valuable tools, but if you're trying to teach your reader something that doesn't strictly require them, why risk alienating people who aren't familiar? How many people who just want to learn how two way binding works are going to see a Node.js server as a "requirement" and move on?