Maybe Ryan Dahl, the creator of Node.js, took to heart Swami Sivananda's words,
"Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures, as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret, and depression. Do not repeat them in the future."
In 2018, he announced that there were many things in Node.js that he regretted. To cope with this regret, on the same day, he announced that he would release Deno - a modification of Node.js. He stated that the problems people were having in Node.js would be solved in Deno. But did Dahl live up to his words? In other words, was there something Deno was good at?
Well, yes. Deno is more secure. Unlike Node.js, which is not secure by default, in Deno, you have to explicitly grant permissions. In Node.js, every script can access your file system, network, and environment. However, in Deno, you have to explicitly provide permissions.
And while Node.js only allows the use of JavaScript, Deno gives you full rein. You can use both TypeScript and JavaScript in deno. And unlike Node.js, Deno does not rely on npm for managing local packages. It allows you to work with the ES module. In fact, there's no use in downloading this package. Deno downloads the ES module automatically.
Further, since Node.js was created in 2009, it lacks many modern features, such as promises. Deno, on the other hand, supports these and other modern JavaScript functionalities. Ryan Dahl built Node.js using C and C++, but for Deno, he opted for Rust.
Moreover, browser support in Node.js isn't the best; it's kind of vague. In contrast, Deno provides full browser support. There are numerous built-in libraries in Deno that can perform basic functions. There's no need to download any third-party libraries. On the other hand, Node.js has a somewhat limited built-in library. Even for basic tasks, you have to install libraries. Due to this, there might be some design inconsistencies in node.js.
I've compiled a list of all the differences for your ease.
So, now keeping in mind all these differences, which one should you choose to learn in 2024? Deno or node.js? Well, despite all the new and modern features in Deno, face it that there are lots of features that Deno still lacks. Node.js version 21 was released in October 2023. But till date, deno is still in its 1.39.1 release. So, in short, still node.js as compared to deno is better.
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