Browser-compat-data: new engine/platform Deno

[jimmont]

A relatively new platform Deno is under active development that includes language and Web API features. Deno seems well suited for addition as a target to track for compatibility in the same way Nodejs is currently tracked.

Please add Deno as an MDN target when it fits the requirements. I anticipate this platform displacing Nodejs due to overall design advantages.

More details:
https://github.com/denoland/deno
https://deno.land/

[ddbeck]

This came up in the MDN chat on Matrix today. Now that Deno is 1.0, I understand there's a little more interest in this. I thought I'd recap (and elaborate) on my comments in chat today.

As far as I know, we don't have a distinct policy on adding new browsers and engines to BCD. But I can say with certainty that before adding a new one, we'd want to know there's demand for such data and a path to sustainably maintaining it.

This is far from comprehensive, but some questions to consider:

• Are BCD consumers interested in this data? Are there would-be consumers of BCD who aren't because it doesn't include this engine?
• Are there resources to help BCD's maintainers review PRs? (e.g., Chrome Platform Status, node.green, etc.)
• Are there engine experts who would agree to respond to review requests? Who are these people? Do they have a good track record of participation in their respective communities?

I imagine other BCD maintainers have other questions, of course.

It's a pretty small team that keeps BCD on track, so we'll need to make sure that we're planning additions in a way that ensures our data continues to increase in quality and utility.

[ry]

@ddbeck We are definitely interested in getting Deno on MDN, and I can make sure PRs get reviewed (either by me or someone else on the team).

We don't currently run Chome Platform Tests as part of our CI, but we certainly would like to. I would be happy to dedicate resources to making that happen.

[crowlKats]

I've been working on something like a draft for this, but was wondering: as i saw that the BCD for Node only has entries in APIs it supports, and doesn't have entries for APIs it doesn't. Should we follow suit with Deno? I think we shouldn't (to some extend; i don't think we should have entries for things like CSS), as Deno does strive to be browser compatible, so if someone looks up an API but finds no entry for Deno, they might get confused as to whether it does support it or not. With node this might not be an issue as it barely follows any web standards as doesn't strive to be compatible.

[vinyldarkscratch]

@00ff0000red also showed interest for adding Deno data into BCD in #8729.

[ddbeck]

We now have a more coherent guideline for the addition of new browsers and engines into BCD. You can read it here: https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data/blob/master/docs/data-guidelines.md#addition-of-browsers and #7238 provides some additional background.

The gist is, to add Deno, we would need a proposal which shows that Deno meets the expectations for new engines and how would-be Deno contributors would plan to introduce and expand Deno's coverage in BCD.