Example

var child = node.firstChild;

In the example above, if node has any immediate child nodes (of any type), the child variable will be a reference to the first one; otherwise it will be null.

In the following HTML example, the firstChild of the p element is a dfn element, and the firstChild of the dfn element is a Text node with the value W-30 Sampling Keyboard:

<p>
  <dfn>W-30 Sampling Keyboard</dfn> was made by Roland in 1989,
  and popularized by <cite>The Prodigy</cite>, who used it extensively
  on their landmark debut album, <cite>Experience</cite>
</p>