Deno’s hype after the JSconf EU conference from Ryan Dahl, the original creator of node js, was due to the advanced and improved version of node js. In this conference Ryan Dahl confronted the mistakes and regrets of node’s software design which is now, more or less considered as features.
As node’s community is now heavily dependent on the current design and multiple software are using existing node js, evident that it’s not wise to change the node‘s design at this stage.
To overcome the designing “bugs”, Deno JS was introduced. Highlighting the fresh features and improvements, Deno JS aims to appease where Node JS lacked in terms of performance, quality, and utility.
In this article, Deno vs Node JS performance will be discovered by exploring different parameters.
Table of Contents
What is Deno JS?
“A secure runtime for JavaScript and TypeScript” as the tagline states. Deno JS supports both typescript and JavaScript and allows access to your data only when explicitly allowed. Moreover, it has revived and created features like promises back into the system which makes it much easier and handy.
What is NODE? Will DENO JS replace NODE JS?
When deno is considered to be an enhanced alternative of node js, deno may replace node js. However, this is only possible over a decent amount of period due to the dependency of the large community of current node js. Node js is not going anywhere for the time being, for now Deno is just considered a fancy alternative.
Let’s make a comparison i.e Deno vs Node js performance.
First look at the basic structure of both Node and Deno js and find how they are different.
Deno JS
Node JS
What Exactly is Different?
1. File type
Firstly, you need to know that both are different types of files. Deno is an index.ts file while node is an index.js file.
2. URL and require
Secondly, note that the including of the module, the node uses “require” to import node modules in the application. Whereas, deno js uses web servers (URLs) to directly import to your application.
This allows you to be free form all the heavy node modules, that you need to npm install first before using them, and request from the URL without installing anything first.
This importing syntax might seem familiar if you have worked on modern JavaScript or react applications. But the real key is importing directly from the URL.
3. Asynchronous with async, promise, and await.
One of the best things about deno is that it allows “await” keyword outside of an async function. If the above code was to be run on node js, it would, without a doubt fail to execute. But this unique feature in deno enables us to use await without invoking an async function.
You must be wondering; how can such a feature be much of a help? Look at it this way, the for loop would execute to infinite numbers of requests incoming which will be controlled by await returning a promise.
It’s not necessary, the request incoming would synchronous and could come at any moment. Therefore, to deal with such nature of requests, await is used which lets other pieces of code that need to be executed without blocking anything.
The introduction of promises in deno was due to the regret of not sticking with them in node js. Promises are objects that return a value in due time.
What are Cool Things about DENO?
1. Package manager
Another great thing about deno is that it doesn’t have a centralized package manager which everything depends upon. With node, you must be very familiar with “npm install” your way through the app but deno doesn’t centralize this idea on the package manager. Instead you can easily import in your module.
2. Security
Deno focuses on security on regions where the node lacked.
Deno executes all the codes in a sandbox rather than in the actual file system of a computer.
This means that there is no way that deno originated runtime would have access to the file system, network, environment variables, and other configurations unless explicit permission is given.
you need to first explicitly grant permission, only then this piece of code will work.
deno run --allow-read index.ts 3. supports typescript
You can write typescript in your deno application without the need for interpretation on your side. Unlike node, deno supports typescript which is a great leap towards advancement. Typescript simplifies and compacts the code into a simpler code which is leaves room for productivity.
4. simplified modules
Node Js had a poor module architecture which was making the applications heavy with unnecessary data. Though using the ES module method for importing URLs this made the architecture and build much better and uncomplexed.
What concerns most developers is that importing from an environment that is changing itself with different versions from the deno team, will the continuous change be adopted by the software that they are building?
Deno handles this unambiguity by downloading and caching all the dependencies and only downloads again when explicitly reload command is used.
5. unhandled promises
Deno makes sure that the unhandled promise is immediately dead and not put on hold. Unlike node js, promises would die immediately so they would not crash the code.
Conclusion
Deno js is a trending technology with a better solution for node js. In terms of performance, deno js are exceeding and have modern features like promises, use of await without async function, and much more. In this article, we have covered dominant qualities but the truth is there is much more to deno js.
