Deno: A New Approach to JavaScript Runtime

Deno is a new JavaScript runtime built on Google's V8 JavaScript engine and Rust programming language. It was created by Ryan Dahl, the original creator of Node.js, with the aim of addressing Node.js' limitations and shortcomings.

Features

Security

Deno is designed with security in mind. By default, it runs in a sandboxed environment, which means it only has access to the files and resources that the user explicitly grants it access to. This prevents Deno from being used to compromise the user's system or steal sensitive information.

TypeScript Support

Deno natively supports TypeScript out of the box. This means that developers can write code in TypeScript, a statically typed superset of JavaScript, which is then compiled to JavaScript by Deno at runtime.

Standard Library

Deno ships with a standard library that includes a wide range of modules for common tasks such as HTTP, cryptography, and file I/O. Developers can use these modules directly, without having to install any third-party dependencies.

Built-in Package Manager

Deno includes a built-in package manager called deno. Developers can use this to install and manage third-party modules, similar to Node.js' npm package manager. However, unlike npm, deno does not install any package code globally or require a separate node_modules directory.

Getting Started

To get started with Deno, you first need to install it on your system. You can do this by going to the Deno website and following the instructions for your operating system.

Once Deno is installed, you can create a new file with a .ts or .js extension and start writing code. For example, to create a simple HTTP server, you can use the following code:

import { serve } from "https://deno.land/std@0.110.0/http/server.ts";

const server = serve({ port: 8080 });

console.log("HTTP server running on port 8080");

for await (const req of server) {
  req.respond({ body: "Hello, Deno!" });
}

To run this code, save it to a file called server.ts and then run the following command in your terminal:

deno run --allow-net server.ts

This will start the HTTP server on port 8080. You can then open your web browser and go to http://localhost:8080 to see the message "Hello, Deno!".

Conclusion

Deno is a promising new approach to JavaScript runtime that offers a number of interesting features and advantages over Node.js. While it is still relatively new and has some limitations compared to Node.js, it is worth exploring if you are interested in developing JavaScript applications or server-side code.