Deno's packaging can be confusing (is this dependency installed in node_modules, the global cache or somehow both across module boundaries?)...

... But damn, its permission system is fucking amazing. Just run your code like normal and watch what permissions it asks you for.

What's that?

Oh, you'd like permission to read the env file and network access? Begone namesquatted malware!

What's that?

Oh, you want write permission to /.., fuck off slopped out pull request!

I tried porting a project back to node (v24) to see what it was like (since I heard node had a permission system now) and because some devs wanted to stick with what was familiar to them.

First thing I noticed, my watch/rebuild/serve script went from 0.2 seconds to 3-5 seconds with no code changes and using the same dependencies that were originally written for node.

Second thing, Node's permission system doesn't work because it's broken by design. Permissions cannot ever be opt in. Everything needs to be locked down and you need to explicitly get permission to access things.

In node's design, a junior dev could "opt in" to the network permission to disable network requests, but they wouldn't think to block subprocesses (which could call cURL/wget and get it to make network requests on the main processes' behalf). It's utterly broken and shifts the blame to the developer for not knowing better.

I instantly switched the project back to deno.

This guy’s website is funny. So much time spent on actual AI-hate, and zero example clients.

I make a habit of not working with people who complain about things publicly.