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Shariq Ahmed
Shariq Ahmed

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What is Deno and Why Was It Released?

Deno JS

As per Deno.js official website, Deno is an open-source runtime environment for JavaScript and TypeScript.

It was created by American software engineer Ryan Dahl - the same guy who created Node.js in 2009 - on May 18, 2018. And as of now, Deno.js has received more than 90k stars on GitHub.

But why was it created? Well, there were some problems in Node.js. To address those problems, Deno.js was released. What were those problems in Node.js? We will discuss that shortly.

First things first, in Deno.js no support for npm is provided. You have to import services or modules via URL. Contrary to Node.js, Deno.js is built using Rust. But like Node.js, deno.js is based on the V8 engine.

Furthermore, one advantage of using Deno.js is that you don't have to compile. You can write your code directly in TypeScript and JavaScript. And contrary to Node.js, Deno.js is more secure. That's because when you run an app in Node.js, it can access your network, server, and files. But in Deno.js, it asks for permission.

There are lots of built-in tools for varying tasks, including code formatting, linting, and testing in Deno.js. But that's not present in Node.js. You have to use third-party packages and tools for performing code formatting, linting, and testing.

And when it comes to performance, I can't say that Deno.js is faster than Node.js and vice versa. That's because Deno.js performs better in some cases. Node.js performs better in cases.

But yes, unlike Node.js, the Deno.js community is small. You might not receive adequate help while working in deno.js. And for this very reason, I recommend developers not learn Deno.js if they aren't familiar with Node.js. But definitely go for it, if you are willing to invest a lot of your effort and time.

And no. Despite all the pros of Deno.js, it can never replace Node.js. Not even in the next 10 years. There are still areas where Node.js is taking the lead. Node.js 21 was released in October 2023. Contrarily, Deno.js is still in its first version.

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Shakil Khan

Thanks

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