Weekly Digest #9: Everything you need to know about Deno

TL;DR: Deno is a new ECMAScript based runtime (like NodeJS) created by Ryan Dahl (who also created NodeJS). It brings a lot of improvements to nodeJS: secure by default, TS default support and built-in utilities (dependency inspector, code formatting, bundler, etc).

Deno 1.0 was recently released and today I will give you all the resources you need to get yourself started.

• First things first, you should check their official site deno.land and read the v1 release post. My takeaways from the release notes: no support for NPM packages, runs on top of V8 and new core directives based on Promises.
• Check Deno 1.0: What you need to know to get started and see how some of the core features work. For more details check this handbook by Flavio Copes.
• Take it to the next level by writing a chat app using Deno! Check Learn Deno: Chat app article for the steps on how to do it.
• If you want to try React with Deno check this tutorial on Serverless Deno + React with server-side rendering on Begin.
• Seems that tooling is starting to appear too. Check DenoX to add a package.json like workspace to projects.
• Why I Believe Deno is a Step in the Wrong Direction for JavaScript Runtime Environments. Besides all the hype about something new it is always good to be objective. Read and watch Mehul Mohan’s point of view on why Deno might not be as good for JS.
• Finally, you can always go and check the GitHub repo to see how everything was coded! Keep in mind is written in Rust.

So… Deno or Node, let the games begin! 😛