Deno 1.0 – First Impressions of Node’s New Rival

Note: This article was originally published on August 10, 2020. Some information may be outdated.

Deno is a secure runtime for JavaScript and TypeScript created by Ryan Dahl, the original creator of Node.js. Deno 1.0 was released with some strong opinions and a clear goal: improve on Node by learning from its limitations.

Key Features

• Built-in TypeScript support
• Uses ES module imports (URLs or local paths)
• No node_modules folder or package.json
• Secure by default (no file, network, or environment access unless allowed)
• Ships as a single binary
• Comes with built-in utilities like a formatter, bundler, and test runner

Basic Script Example

// hello.ts
console.log("Hello from Deno");

Run it with:

deno run hello.ts

Deno checks permissions by default. For example, to allow reading files:

deno run --allow-read hello.ts

Importing Modules

import { serve } from "https://deno.land/std@0.61.0/http/server.ts";

const s = serve({ port: 8000 });
console.log("Listening on http://localhost:8000");

for await (const req of s) {
  req.respond({ body: "Hello Deno\n" });
}

• No npm install
• No package.json
• Modules are cached and compiled once

Pros

• Simpler setup
• Secure by default
• Strong focus on modern JavaScript
• First-class TypeScript support

Cons

• Smaller ecosystem compared to Node
• Some missing mature libraries
• Different standard modules from Node.js

Use Cases

Deno is well-suited for:

• Scripts
• Small web services
• Secure server-side scripting
• Learning modern JavaScript runtime internals

It's still early, but Deno is promising. Whether it replaces Node or carves out a niche remains to be seen. For now, it’s a clean and interesting option, especially for new projects that value security and simplicity.

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Originally published at letanure.dev