Friendship ended with Deno, now Node is my best friend
After months of using Deno for a SvelteKit client project, the author has returned to Node.js. They were impressed with the improvements in Node, particularly the support for ECMAScript sugar and the modernization of old APIs. The author no longer has to deal with the cumbersome require() function in Node.
Using Deno for server-side JavaScript left the author frustrated with the restrictive nature of publishing TypeScript packages to NPM. Node.js v26.10.0 documentation finally allowed TypeScript to run without errors, even though publishing TypeScript packages remains a challenge.
The author switched from Deno's file system API to node:fs in Node v26.10.0, which proved to be a simple and effective change. They also replaced Deno.serve with Hono's node adapter. These changes led to a 15% faster build time for their static site generator.
The author believes that Node has surpassed Deno in many areas, and the latter has lost its innovation and appeal over time. They attribute Deno's decline to Microsoft's influence and the loss of talented employees. The author plans to say goodbye to Deno, as the benefits of Node now outweigh the drawbacks they experienced initially.
Written by urgent.news from Lobsters's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
