I thought nodejs/v8 or any javascript runtime would have some kind of startup cost since it has to parse and compile the javascript code first. See a simple hello world execution time comparison:

    # a Go hello world
    $ time ./hello
    hi
    
    real 0m0.002s

    
    $ time  echo 'console.log("hello")' | node -
    hello

    real 0m0.039s

The ~25ms of cold start noted in this article feels acceptable and impressive to me, given what node is doing under the hood.