Thursday, March 7, 2024

Top Differences Between Deno and Node.js You Should Know

People are asking themselves whether Deno, the new JS Ecosystem star, will kill Node. Having the first Deno 1.0 release in mid-2020, it’s time we sit and have a look at the following scenario – “Will Deno replace Node js?”, and see if it’s possible. Today our goal is to see if Deno is a worthy replacement for Node.

We hope that this article will help you better understand both Deno and Node, see what they have in common, and the features that set them apart.

What is Node?

As a JS run-time platform built on the Chrome V8 JS engine, Node js is developed for application development and writing. Although, at first, Node js was started only as a way to locally write and run scripts, over the years, the project developed into something more advanced – a writing applications platform.

Node’s architectural principles allow us to use Node for everything – Node on the Cloud, Node on hardware units, scaling Node from small levels to large levels. Node js brings server-side JS to the mainstream, allowing web app development using a single language, that’s why everywhere. 

How Does Node Work?

Node mode of working is entirely different from Deno. Moreover, Node is based on the package to package concept. So, for example, you cannot transfer only one file with Node, but entire directories transformed into tar files that will be placed locally and the module resolving them are handled locally.

What is Deno?

Focused on productivity, Deno is a run-time environment for JS and TS based on the V8 JS engine and the Rust programming language.

Solving the problem domain of small sets of instructions to do a particular task, Deno’s problem domain and Node’s problem domain overlap slightly. However, will Deno replace node js is still unclear?

Deno is a writing script platform, an excellent replacement for utility scripts. Those utility scripts that were before written with Python or Bash are now being written in Deno. When Ryan Dahl first created Node, he intended to do the same thing he is now doing with Deno.

However, as time passed and thanks to the hard work of many people, Node js became what it is today. Furthermore, for small-scale scripting, Deno would be a better option than Node js.

Deno doesn’t solve even one bit of a large-scale app problem domain. Deno is a tool made with a sole specific function to solve only one problem. 

How does Deno Work?

Optimized on a file-to-file base working, when you import the next file with Deno, that’s what you are doing – importing the next file only. Moreover, recursively that file can import another one and so on. Moving the module resolving to distribution throughout HTTP requests, Deno is the perfect tool for creating a consumer script.

The conversion of the modules to URLs feature will explicitly take off the role of both runtime and package managers and make Deno more flexible because the tool itself is not dependent on a centralized network for the module distribution.

Will Deno Replace Node js?

Keeping in mind that Deno and Node are two tools taking care of the same domain of problems and yet dealing with different issues, there is almost no chance to see the scenario of ‘will Deno replace Node js’ ever.

In Deno, modules are referred to as URLs rather than being downloaded locally, then they are resolved in the runtime and cached locally. This Deno feature comes especially in handy when scripting. However, this same feature would be a huge limitation when it comes to developing large apps.

That’s why if you intend to develop larger modules or applications, it would be best to hire node js developers. If you use Deno when developing some large apps or modules, you’ll not have the same interaction with the file system you’d have when you’d publish the module.

When Ryan Dahl, the creator of Node js, introduced Deno js to the world, he didn’t plan to kill NPM for good, just to show that there is another way things could be done. Moreover, Node js and NPM have been used for over a decade, and that’s why the answer to the question – “Will Deno Replace Node js” is always going to be a no.