Trying Deno

Deno, as well as Node's other competitor Bun, attempt to compete with Node by solving some of the headaches that arise from the complexity of the Node ecosystem. Probably the biggest issue that Deno tries to solve is dealing with the complexity of and time wasted by the need to compile TypeScript before it can be run by Node. The Deno runetime is able to run TypeScript files directly without the need to compile, which vastly improves developer experience. It also makes it easier to get a project started by eliminating the need to create a tsconfig.json file. This makes tools like Deno especially good for people that are first getting started with TypeScript because it is able to abstract away some of the more daunting aspects of TypeScript allowing you to be able to engage directly with the core of TypeScript, which as its moniker would suggest, is its typing system.

Deno also attempts to fill in some gaps in the Node core libraries. One example that really stands out after spending time working with Rust, is the lack of an opinionated testing framework. While Node does provide the core features needed for testing in the assert functions, without an outside library, it would be necessary to write your own testing library in order to be able to approach testing in a systematic and consistent way. In most cases, it is probably preferable to reach for a fully featured testing library like Jest, but having more robust in-built testing functionality makes testing more consistent. The best of both worlds, in my opinion, is to have a testing framework tightly integrated into the runtime itself while also leaving the door open to use outside libraries in the case where the in-built functionality insufficient for the requirements of a project.

The other problem that Deno tries to solve is security. It is common practice with Node apps to reach for something like Nginx to use as a load balancer, but also for improved security by creating a more secure layer between your app and the public internet. Nginx is very good at what it does, and for larger projects the time required to configure it is not prohibitive. In the case of smaller projects, the need to configure a reverse proxy can be cumbersome and they generally need access to fewer resources making these security features especially useful for small projects that may only require network access to function.