🦕 Top 5 Deno Features

Background

Here is a quick introduction to some of the most promising features in Deno. Before we get started, let's make sure we're on the same page. 📄✅

Q: What is Deno?
A: A place to run JavaScript or TypeScript (like Node, or a browser (kinda)).

Q: Who made Deno?
A: Ryan Dahl the original developer of Node.js.

Q: Why should I care about Deno?
A: Let's save this answer for the end 😏.

Overview

1. Secure by Default
2. Uses Modern Code
3. TypeScript Out of the Box
4. Built in Tooling
5. No node_modules!

🔒 Secure by Default

You may or may not know, but Node is not secure. When you run code in Node that code is able to access your computer and your network. This isn't a concern when you are running your own code, but when you are running someone else's code this is a HUGE security concern.
Deno solves this issue by not allowing code to access anything, unless you allow it to. For example, if you wanted to run a script that is allowed to read files you could write something like this

deno run --allow-read readFiles.ts

The --allow-read flag allows readFiles.ts to read files in the filesystem. However, readFiles.ts is not allowed to write files to the system, to do that we would also need to add the flag --allow-write. Deno offers more than just file access security, you can restrict network access, subroutines, and more. You can learn more about Deno's permissions access here

This practice makes for a much more secure environment where our code can run.

🧩 Uses Modern Code

Deno does a handful of things that are just no brainers to a modern developer. First, are its use of modern ES Modules.
Anyone that has used Node.js (so any web developer), has written some version of the following:

// CommonJS Syntax (Node)
const config = require('/path/to/file');

Deno is built using ES Modules by default, so its imports look something like this:

// ES Module Syntax (Deno)
import config from '/path/to/file';

The reason I like like this is, because it looks more like English. There are some differences between how the two function, but that is explained much better in its own post. Here is an excellent article that does just that!

In addition to modern modules, Deno also comes with some build in web APIs like fetch and setTimeOut. While we would need to import these into Node with a package like node-fetch, in Deno you just type fetch(url) to fetch your data.

🥡 TypeScript Out of the Box

TypeScript is a tool that lets us write JavaScript using types. Let's see an example:

// JavaScript
let count = 10;

// TypeScript
let count: number = 6;

While TypeScript is a little more typing, it will make your code less likely to have bugs down the road. The use of this language has been growing for the past couple years. Usually you would need to install TypeScript to use it. Deno takes care of this for you and comes with TypeScript built right in.

🛠️ Built in Tooling

One of the things I think is coolest about Deno are the built in tools. Deno comes with a build-in formatting system, bundling, and testing! Why this is so great is it takes a lot of the tedious configuration out of our hands and takes care of it for us.

In addition, Deno also offers standard modules. These are packages that solve common tasks. These tasks are vetted by the Deno team and guaranteed to work well with Deno.

This is a major aspect Deno gets right. Developers should be writing more code and spending less time configuring files, and deciding between packages.

🧼 No node_modules!

Deno rethinks how we use code from the community. Rather than having a package manager that manages a million different versions of your modules, Deno allows us to link programs to our code as simple as you would use a script tag in HTML.

Rather than having a massive node_modules folder, Deno's approach to using a module looks like this:

import { serve } from "https://deno.land/std@0.88.0/http/server.ts";

Why Should I Care?

Deno is a new runtime for JavaScript and TypeScript. It streamlines a lot of the ugly parts of Node.js. While it is still in its very early stages it does a lot of things right to make our lives and code better and easier. Keep your eye on Deno and try it out on your next scripting project.

Deno Site

If you are interested in trying Deno out, I recommend this playlist by The Net Ninja

Want to hear more about the motivation for Deno?
Watch 10 Things I Regret About Node.js - by Ryan Dahl

Links to stay in touch with me

Github
Dev.to

Thanks so much for reading and let me know your thoughts below!