That Deno is here it is already a reality and you cannot avoid it. Of course, it is quite a new runtime if compared with Node. (e.g. Deno is in this moment on version 1.0.0 meanwhile Node runs on version 12.16.3)
As any new technology it has lovers and haters but, sincerely, you don't need to choose one side or another. The mistake is the thought that Deno came to replace Node which it is not true at all. People totally misunderstood what Ryan Dahl said in his speech at the EU JSConf. (link below)
Things I Regret About Node.js In Short (The main ones)
- Not sticking with Promises.
- Security
- The Build System (GYP)
- The package.json
- The node_modules
- The require module without using the extension .js
- The index.js
I could mention even more reasons for you to give Deno a chance,for instance, using Ryan's own words when talking about the external libraries been centralized through the NPM repository or about latency performance "A hello-world Deno HTTP server does about 25k requests per second with a max latency of 1.3 milliseconds. A comparable Node program does 34k requests per second with a rather erratic max latency between 2 and 300 milliseconds" and so on but the internet is full of articles talking about it and I don't want to copy and paste them here just to make volume.
Get straight to the point, Deno is not an implementation for Node (it is not even compatible with NPM). Deno emerges as a promise (no pun intended) chiefly to improve the lack of security existent on Node.
You are probably question yourself: So why don't just fix those issues in a new Node's release?
One of the answers among many is: it is kind of impossible given the Node's wide use.
Another good point to be noticed is that the Javascript language is not the same it was in 2009, period when Node was created and it is an undeniable fact. But also it just proves that Javascript has grown and been improved over the past years.
In his blog, Ryan mentions that "... with the changing JavaScript language, and new additions like TypeScript, building Node projects can become an arduous endeavor, involving managing build systems and other heavy-handed tooling that takes away from the fun of dynamic language scripting ..."
Please don't get me wrong I'm not here to crucify Node. Actually I am a Node enthusiastic but also a mature enough developer to perceive that Deno comes to change (in a good way) our concept about web development as we know it.
Having said that, Deno has yet a long way ahead (I'd say at least 2 to 4 years to become fully grown) but I would suggest you to start learning it from now while there is no pressure coming from the tech companies hiring "Deno developers with +5 years experience".
In my next posts I will put hands-on in some projects so we can walk this road together and learn from each others.
Thanks for reading.
NB: The first post of the Deno project we will build together you can already find here
The second
The third: Building a restful API using Deno (Part2)
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