Ryan Dahl is an American software engineer who created Node.js and Deno. His work on event-driven JavaScript runtimes transformed server-side development and enabled full-stack JavaScript development.
Creating Node.js
Dahl presented Node.js at JSConf EU in 2009. He was frustrated by how traditional web servers blocked on I/O operations, wasting resources while waiting. JavaScript’s event-driven model offered an alternative.
Node.js’s Impact
Node.js changed web development:
- JavaScript became viable on servers
- Real-time applications became practical
- npm grew into the largest package ecosystem
- Build tools moved to JavaScript
Leaving Node.js
Dahl stepped away from Node.js in 2012, though the project continued thriving under community and corporate stewardship. He worked on other projects before returning to JavaScript runtimes.
”10 Things I Regret About Node.js”
In 2018, Dahl gave a famous talk listing Node.js design mistakes: security, package.json complexity, CommonJS modules, and more. He announced Deno as a fresh start.
Creating Deno
Deno applies lessons learned from Node.js:
- Security permissions by default
- TypeScript as a first-class language
- URL-based imports
- Web-standard APIs
Dahl’s willingness to publicly critique his own successful creation and start over demonstrates rare intellectual honesty in technology.