Node.js Digest #18: Deno vs Oracle, Fluid computing, Bun 1.2, Deno 2.2, Nest.js 11
Hello, community! Oleksandr Zinevych and the Avenga team are here. Welcome the new month and the new Node.js Digest.
Brief
Node.js 18 will no longer be supported in Builds and Functions on the Vercel platform. However, existing deployments on Serverless Functions will remain unaffected.
TypeScript v5.8 just dropped.
Nest.js v11 brings major improvements in logging, support for the latest versions of Express and Fastify, and enhanced flexibility when working with services like Redis and Kafka using the new unwrap method.
New monorepo capabilities from nx.
Deno 2.2 includes numerous enhancements, with better compatibility with Node.js being the key highlight.
Deno vs Oracle, ep.3
The battle between Oracle and the JavaScript community, led by Ryan Dahl and the Deno team, continues to be a major topic. If you prefer a video format, here’s a short live stream with the latest updates: ?? Watch here Alternatively, you can read more about it here.
Oracle is fighting for the Node.js trademark in an unexpected way. To support its claim, Oracle submitted several proofs of "proper usage," including a screenshot of the Node.js website—without any prior approval from Ryan Dahl or his team. They also waited until the last possible day to respond, focusing attention on this specific detail rather than the broader trademark ownership discussion.
Long legal battles are ahead, but you can help by signing this petition, which Oracle is trying to suppress. If you haven’t signed it yet, now’s the time!
Impersonate me please
The npm ecosystem remains highly vulnerable, with dozens or even hundreds of malicious packages released daily, targeting developers' personal data.
This month, the Socket team highlighted the importance of being cautious with npm and regularly verifying the integrity of the packages you use. Their blog post revealed how popular packages like chokidar and chalk were compromised by an attacker and injected with a "kill switch"—malicious code that not only deletes files but also sends them to a suspicious URL.
As always, bad actors are waiting for your data, so staying vigilant when selecting and updating npm packages is crucial.
Bun minor(major) release
Bun continues its journey toward becoming the ultimate all-in-one JavaScript tool, aiming to replace nearly every JavaScript package you've ever used.
This might be why even the release of Bun 1.2 warranted a dedicated video
?and a massive blog post.
With this version, Bun has taken a major step toward better Node.js compatibility. Instead of just addressing GitHub issue reports, they’ve started running full Node.js test suites, which seems like a smart move.
What’s new in Bun 1.2:
? Improved compatibility with node:http2, node:cluster, and other APIs ? Native support for AWS S3 right out of the box ? Express runs 3x faster compared to Node.js ? PostgreSQL support added, alongside SQLite ? bun install can now fully replace npm install—as expected, much faster than in Node.js
The Bun team’s productivity is insane—it feels like they don’t eat or sleep, just continuously refining Bun into the Swiss Army knife of modern JavaScript.
Fluid computing
Recently, Vercel announced the release of something that had been hiding in plain sight for a while—a concept that seems almost obvious. They’re calling it Fluid Computing.
As is tradition in the dev world, there’s already a dedicated video explaining the thought process behind it:
The idea is straightforward: first, there were servers, then came Serverless, and now Vercel is adding multi-threading to Serverless, which led to Fluid Computing. With just a single toggle in the UI, you get all the benefits of Serverless plus a little extra.
Vercel plans to gradually migrate everything to Fluid Computing, but it will take some time.
Something to Read
Evan Hahn shared his ambitious plan to reduce all npm package sizes by 5%, and how he ultimately failed. Imagine if he had succeeded? It wouldn’t have changed much for us, but it would have made for a great technical talk at a conference.
A bit of AI-related statistics from Cloudflare, highlighting what's popular and what tools are being used. There are even a few charts to explore.
Matt Pocock explains in his blog why the –eraseSyntaxOnly flag is important.
Swizec Teller shares insights on how to structure your code effectively.
Matteo Collina wrote about why you shouldn't use URLPatter.
Prisma Postgres in action, with images, charts, and dashboard screenshots—a fascinating and well-presented deep dive.
If you haven’t fully switched to ESM yet, Anthony Fu makes a compelling case for why you should migrate today.
Parsing PDFs is a common challenge in Node.js development. Liran Tal explains how to handle it painlessly.
Most of you already know about GitHub Copilot, and many use Cursor. But when GitHub itself writes about refactoring with Copilot, it’s definitely worth a read.
Something to Watch
An insightful interview with Guillermo Rauch, the founder of Vercel, discussing AI and the future of coding:
Do you know when Redis is the right choice? The Interview Pen channel dives into Redis as a primary database:
If you have more than 5 hours to spare, you can tune into Ryan Carniato’s deep dive on Signals:
Fireship explores why programmers should be more concerned about the rapid progress of AI tools:
A new Deno promo is out:
Theo Browne shares his chaotic journey in search of the perfect database for t3chat:
Ben Flast explains how to build RAG applications using MongoDB:
Lastly, an interesting discussion on ThePrimeTime channel about how AI tools like GitHub Copilot impact code quality:
Library of the Month
This month, Faker caught my attention. Many of you are probably familiar with it, but with a new version just released, I was reminded of how useful it is. If you need to generate random user names, email addresses, birthdates, and more, Faker is the perfect tool for the job.
That’s all for the first digest of 2025. Share your questions, leave comments, and see you in February!