The Comprehensive Guide to Deno — An Alternative to Node

A modern runtime for JavaScript and TypeScript

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What is Deno?

Deno (pronounced as dee-no) is a runtime for JavaScript, TypeScript, and WebAssembly that is based on the V8 JavaScript engine and the Rust programming language. It has secure defaults and a great developer experience. The name is an anagram of node, and it is also an acronym of DEstroy NOde.

Deno was created by Ryan Dahl, original creator of Node.js, and is focused on productivity. It was announced by Ryan Dahl in 2018 during his talk, 10 Things I Regret About Node.js, at JSConf EU.

According to https://stackshare.io/deno, there are 14 companies using Deno in their tech stacks, including cloudless, Appwrite, The Lonero Foundation, Development, and Huel.

Here is the list of Deno features:

• Deno is a single executable.
• Support TypeScript out of the box.
• Secure by default.
• No centralized official package manager.
• Provide builtin development tooling.
• Support modern web platform standards and functionality.
• Host third party modules.

Deno Is a Single Executable

Deno works on macOS, Linux, and Windows. Deno is a single binary executable that has no external dependencies. It is also called Deno CLI.

On macOS, we can use brew to install Deno.

% brew install deno

Unlike node supporting commands, node, npm, and npx, Deno only has a single executable, deno.

Here is the Deno version that we have installed:

The following command upgrades the existing Deno to the latest version.

% deno upgrade