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Deno Desktop

docs.deno.com

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Re: Deno Desktop

#221

Post by threetonesun »

troupo wrote: post #188
teaearlgraycold wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People build web apps for an array of browsers and huge ranges of versions. I think if you started using some tech to deploy an end user program and knew from the beginning the browser could be updated beneath you it would work just fine. But if you start with a golden version of Chrome and put off updating for too long you’ve let yourself get too comfortable.

> People build web apps for an array of browsers and huge ranges of versions. en masse they don't. They just target the latest Chrome

I agree and disagree, you can't target everything, but most (not shit) devs will target at least Safari - 1 or 2, simply because the iPhone market is too good to miss out on. And Safari being, well, Safari, means targeting that is a pretty safe bet for anything else.

Re: Deno Desktop

#222

Post by josephernest »

iagooar wrote: post #159
taosu_la wrote: post #152

Is this a new trend? Why are everyone starting to do desktop runtime? For example, I recently saw Bun Electron, and then I saw this project.

I guess people are tired of each instance of an Electron-based app using 1GB+ of RAM.

I just tried `deno desktop helloworld.ts` and the result is 442 MB. So it's not any lighter than Electron (see my toplevel comment)

Re: Deno Desktop

#223

Post by omojo »

Impressive work. This is going to be really interesting for vibe coding Desktop apps. I imagine this on Lovable, Bolt or v0 since they basically default to using Typescript for building web apps. I've been using Go/Wails for desktop projects rather than a bundled Chromium and Node in a small desktop app, Electron did a good job but that was a big No for me.

Re: Deno Desktop

#224

Post by boofus »

preommr wrote: post #201
DaanDL wrote: post #50

I swear we're just going to end up with Java again.

I will die on the hill that Java was a good language, and had the potential to leapfrog us from where we are by at least a decade. But it got hobbled by the awful, awful enterprise style culture, cultural misunderstanding of OOP (especially inheritance), and corporation shenanigans (fucking oracle).

Java may be good, but it's boring. No joy comes from programming in Java.

I need to enjoy my work to be engaged and productive.

Re: Deno Desktop

#225

Post by 40four »

Deno continues to impress me. It’s honestly been quite a while since I started a new project without it. It has fully won my support over Node.js, the ecosystem has really matured nicely. I don’t know how often I’ll use this feature, but it’s really nice to have the option!

Re: Deno Desktop

#226

Post by josephernest »

josephernest wrote: post #219

> deno desktop is opinionated about those tradeoffs: > Small by default, full Node compatibility I tried `deno desktop index.ts` with the 5-line Hello world in the article. Result (Windows 10): 442 MB. Ouch. I thought it would be smaller than an Electron build, but it's far worse. Did I do something wrong? (libcef.dll: 247 MB) (deno-test.dll: 78 MB <- contains the hello world)

IIRC Electron hello world is ~ 100-150 MB because it bundles a browser/Chromium runtime.

So I hoped we could have a <= 20 MB solution by reusing the OS webview or similar. Having more than 400 MB is a bit deceptive for me. (Again: maybe I just did something wrong in the config: should I do something else than `deno desktop test.ts`?)

Re: Deno Desktop

#227

Post by fny »

josephernest wrote: post #219

> deno desktop is opinionated about those tradeoffs: > Small by default, full Node compatibility I tried `deno desktop index.ts` with the 5-line Hello world in the article. Result (Windows 10): 442 MB. Ouch. I thought it would be smaller than an Electron build, but it's far worse. Did I do something wrong? (libcef.dll: 247 MB) (deno-test.dll: 78 MB <- contains the hello world)

libcef is the Chromium embedded framework[0], so your build isn't using a webview or maybe its using both. I just tried it on my mac, and I can't keep libcef out even with `--backend webview`.

https://github.com/chromiumembedded/cef

Re: Deno Desktop

#228

Post by clownstrikelol »

bob1029 wrote: post #220
DiabloD3 wrote: post #31

I don't get the point of this. The world is trying to make computers faster and more accessible, more web UI slop isn't going to help that. Dumping Javascript entirely is the first step on that road.

I challenge you to replicate something "simple", like an iMessage-style UI/UX in pure Win32 or WinForms. The web views are entirely about productivity gains, not technological excellence. I don't know of many who would argue that the web view approach is superior from a purely technical perspective. It is mostly downsides in terms of performance, E2E latency, startup delay, security edges, etc.

In WinForms?

Is that supposed to be a challenge?

WinForms is incredibly easy and simple to use...

Doesn’t mean you should use it for new things in 2026, but for building a chat app with? Yeah, it’d be very easy.

I’d know, because I’ve done it (granted it was over 15 years ago at this point, but I’ve done it). Was used internally, with a PHP backend. Worked great!

Re: Deno Desktop

#229

Post by undefined_void »

josephernest wrote: post #219

> deno desktop is opinionated about those tradeoffs: > Small by default, full Node compatibility I tried `deno desktop index.ts` with the 5-line Hello world in the article. Result (Windows 10): 442 MB. Ouch. I thought it would be smaller than an Electron build, but it's far worse. Did I do something wrong? (libcef.dll: 247 MB) (deno-test.dll: 78 MB <- contains the hello world)

Try the webview backend: `deno desktop --backend webview`

Re: Deno Desktop

#230

Post by nottorp »

tones411 wrote: post #177
nottorp wrote: post #173

Hmm suppose you have a node GUI-less application. What would you pack it in to have something reasonably self contained to deploy?

Look into Single Executable Applications https://nodejs.org/api/single-executable-applications.html

Thanks!
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