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What’s the best JavaScript framework?

Ben Halpern on July 28, 2019

I understand that this is a bad question and I’d always refute the notion of “best”.

But acknowledging that, let’s debate this out for fun. 😄

Dmitriy Kovalenko • Jul 28 '19 • Edited

I'm Luis! \^-^/ • Jul 28 '19

This made my day, my week, my month and my entire 2019 so far.

Cheston • Jul 29 '19

Beautiful!

Cosmas Gikunju • Jul 29 '19

😂😂😂 You beat me to this

vladimir.dev • Jul 28 '19

I like this answer the best

Bhanu Pratap Singh • Jul 29 '19

you are right my friend 😂

KristijanFištrek • Jul 29 '19

This is a trump card.

Robin Aspman • Jul 28 '19

Ben Halpern • Jul 28 '19

Can I build the DOM into my server?

Vesa Piittinen • Jul 28 '19

Yes, you can! I've actually considered trying out sometime how performant it is(n't) to use jsdom to output HTML on a "real" server :D

Michael "lampe" Lazarski • Jul 28 '19

Haha please tell me this is not real!

alexander171294 • Jul 29 '19

I think that the real definitive backend framework is Mozilla 😆

Adam Crockett 🌀 • Jul 28 '19

Vanilla js is great they have an awesome website too. Go and download a copy!

Kevin Ard • Jul 28 '19

Haha been using js for 15 years, and today is the first time I've looked for js.com 🤷‍♂️

Adam Crockett 🌀 • Jul 28 '19

This is the OP hipster framework.

vanilla-js.com/

Kevin Ard • Jul 29 '19

I friggin ♥️ that page.

BYO-Bundle! Hah!

Stephen Belovarich • Jul 28 '19

The best JavaScript framework is always the one you haven’t used.

Ozkar L. Garcell • Jul 28 '19

LoL. This answer should be printed in Christmas greetings cards

Stephen Belovarich • Jul 28 '19

I was thinking fortune cookie 🥠 but I’ll take it!

Antonio Radovcic • Jul 28 '19

Angular? No Google or bust.
Vue? It's basically one guy, come on.
React? Boo, Facebook evil! And also pretty much one guy.
Preact? Get the FUCK OUT OF HERE.
Backbone? Stupid name, no way.
Ember? Come on now you're just making up names.
WebComponents? That's not.. has nothing to do wit.. just forget it.
Meteor? Yes take the spaghetti to the server, too no?

I don't know man, they all suck. Just throw a coin or something.

Defiance Black • Jul 29 '19

With an aversion to JavaScript, I'll just comment that while learning Python/Django, I've been lead towards reading the docs of backbone.js. It's tolerable; the two map pretty nicely to each other. I also like the look/docs of riot.js.

Otherwise, yes; 100%, your comment.

Antonio Radovcic • Jul 29 '19

Just like the post, my comment is a joke.

Defiance Black • Jul 30 '19

It's not wrong. :)

Diego Isco • Jul 28 '19 • Edited

It depends

For a simple portfolio => VanillaJS
For a cool project to show=> React
For a complex app => Vue
For an enterprise-level app => Angular

That's all IMO 👻

Prahlad Yeri • Jul 28 '19

For enterprise apps, angular is a devil considering they made so many incompatible version upgrades and it is such an opinionated framework. Something stable like jquery and/or backbone is more suitable for enterprise apps.

Kevin Ard • Jul 28 '19

I think the enterprise appeal with Ng is its opinionated project structure. There's not much wiggle-room, so onboarding a new Ng dev to a 3-year-old Ng project is almost nil. ... compared to something else, this hire may take weeks to hit velocity.

And by "enterprise", we mean somewhere large enough that employee churn is part of the game, and devs are disposable.

Stefanos Kouroupis • Jul 28 '19

I never expected I would agree with anyone in this kind of thread ..yes 👍

Geek • Aug 1 '19

What? Angular for Enterprise-level app? Angular's inconsistency can't make it. LOL.

rhymes • Jul 28 '19

Sm0ke • Jul 28 '19 • Edited

funny

Joseph Moore • Jul 28 '19

Honestly? I've never had a better developer experience than in the late 2000s with backend-rendered templates with a sprinkling of jQuery for dynamic bits.

It was fast, accessible, worked in every browser, and if you did things right (caching, streaming the header before the body is ready, etc.), navigations felt seamless. We've still got some of these running that haven't been touched in a decade (other than updating dependencies and changing company themes).

But, when I really need the interactivity of a JS framework, my go-to is Vue, though I am very, very interested in the approach used by Svelte. I also really like Web Components with lit-element, but I feel there's still a bit of work to be done by the community to reduce the amount of plumbing needed to build a full app with them.

Joseph Moore • Jul 28 '19 • Edited

Now, to get really controversial: nothing's better than an page with just the standard header and an iframe containing the body.

Except maybe <frameset>...

Prahlad Yeri • Jul 28 '19 • Edited

Wondering if anyone here has heard about thing called backbone.js. Though its an old framework, a large part of enterprise world still prefers it instead of modern ones like angular/vue.js.

On the backend or node side, express probably wins hands down.

Edit

I'm curious about the "popular" frameworks' popularity, so I've started a twitter poll myself. Do vote and let me know your choice!

David Wickes • Jul 28 '19

Backbone... now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time...

Raymond (Remon) • Jul 29 '19

It was the first framework I used , old is gold :D

defel • Jul 29 '19

We had this in production 11 years ago.

Zombie Views, Zombie Views everywhere.

Andrew Brown 🇨🇦 • Jul 28 '19 • Edited

DilithiumJs

Pending its completion.

import * as m from 'mithril'
import { Component } from 'monster'

import JourneyChapter from 'components/journey_chapter'

export default class Journey extends Component
  expects:
    chapters:
      presence: true
      array: true
    target: true
    user: true
  render:=>
    console.log 'chapters', @chapters
    m 'section.journey',
      m '.wrap',
        m '.section_title'
          m 'h3', 'Your Journey'
          m '.clear'
        m '.body',
          m '.chapters_wrap'
            m '.chapters',
              for chapter in @chapters
                m JourneyChapter,
                  chapter: chapter
                  target: target
                  user: user

It's used to power ExamPro and I've been working on an end-to-end tutorial on how to use it:

I organized the code into star trek-like departments

The CLI is also star trek inspired. So when you want to create a new app you type:

computer begin program <name-of-web-app>

Why create a new Javascript framework?
Modern framework feels over-engineered. I want to have the productivity that I used to have but I need a framework that is:

isomorphic,
solves all common use cases
has a strong dsl
with great documentation.

Ben Lovy • Jul 28 '19

A magnetized needle and a steady hand.

Luke Westby • Jul 28 '19

I am the best JavaScript framework. AMA

Casey Brooks • Jul 28 '19

HTML9 Responsive Boilerstrap JS

𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐝𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐝 • Jul 29 '19

Um... are you stupid or something? Just attackclone the grit repo pushmerge, then rubygem the lymphnode js shawarma module – and presto!

That gave me a proper chuckle!

Ben Halpern • Jul 28 '19

So far nobody’s falling for my bait 😄

Cécile Lebleu • Jul 28 '19

As far as I know, vanilla is always the best flavor.

(Don’t trust me yet I’m not experienced enough to have a proper informed opinion)

Ben Halpern • Jul 28 '19

That’s a good opinion 👌

Cécile Lebleu • Jul 29 '19

Thank you! :’)

Jacob Evans • Jul 28 '19

None of them. As in a tool in mechanics or construction, there is the right tool for the job, it's just a matter of knowing enough to pick the right one. Sometimes all you need is a hammer and a crowbar, other times you might need that volt meter, pressure gauge, and torque wrench... It just depends.

I use React, I think it's great but I've looked into others, like Vue, Angular, Svelte, and see their usefulness and benefits. Personally, I would love to master all the things but I chose to focus on React ecosystem and JavaScript I plan on getting into TypeScript.

Jacob Evans • Jul 28 '19

You always need duct tape around. I leave it to you to decide your analogical tech equal to duct tape lol 😆

Jhon Paredes • Jul 28 '19

The best javascript framework is all the friends we made along the way.

JavaScript-Webix-UI • Aug 26 '20

webix.com or dhtmlx.com

Jerome Hardaway • Jul 28 '19

Fake News LOL. More like what’s the best JavaScript practices in regards to frameworks is a better question. I hate with a passion when a student builds their entire portfolio with React when building it static and building one component that handles something that actually needs to be React ( using real time data, like an auto completing search bar ) will do.

Edmundo Sanchez • Jul 28 '19

Exactly.
It is very common to use a god damned 2 ton truck to move the contents of your night stand drawer.

But, i do get the need to show you actually know react, or whatever flashy thing facebook did.

stereobooster • Jul 28 '19

Are you serious? You want to have orange website thread here?

Ben Halpern • Jul 28 '19

I’m banking on some self-awareness here.

Milad Nekofar • Jul 28 '19

It depends. 🤷‍♂️

Ryland G • Jul 28 '19

The one that gets the job done the fastest.

Jan Wedel • Jul 28 '19

How do you know?

Victor Darkes • Jul 29 '19

I'm a backend dev so all I just started to get into learning React and personally I find it makes it is pretty straightforward. My personal reasons for landing on React were because I looked at job applications at companies I admire and saw React as a requirement more than others. Anyone see Svelte and Vue used by really interesting companies?

Mike Rispoli • Jul 30 '19

Next.js + React + Typescript for me.

I was leaning toward Vue for quite some time but I've found typescript to be super helpful on really large apps. Last time I checked typescript cannot validate the template code the way it can for React jsx. Also Next.js 9 is really an absolutely wonderful platform and super flexible for the smallest to the largest apps. Nuxt for vue is great as well but Next 9 polished off the rough edges in my mind. React hooks have also grown on me considerably.

I do think Vue handles a few things better. The transition component baked in, computed values and watchers, truly reactive style, and event emitters are quite nice and intuitive in this framework.

That being said, I'm watching Svelte intently because I like the compiled approach to a front end framework, however their app framework Sapper is a little green for me to commit to on client projects just yet.

I think it's interesting that as of now, the combo of the front end library with typescript and the node framework is swaying my opinion as well. Typescript is a really nice, low-calorie safeguard for even small projects.

hexrcs • Jul 28 '19

Vanilla.js is da GOAT, hands down.

Ben Halpern • Jul 28 '19

🐐

Dhanushka madushan • Jul 28 '19

Anyone using Aurelia? This seems good with OOP concepts.

Aschwin Wesselius • Aug 1 '19

This would have been my suggestion too.

Strahinja Babić • Jul 29 '19

I've tried a bit of react.js wasn't that much into it, and later devoted more time in learning Vue.js which was more interesting to me personally.
Later on, will surely come back to react to study it better.

Andrea Scotto Di Minico • Jul 28 '19

Guess it depends what is your background, how big the team for project is, what the project is about and how much you want to earn. I used to do a lot of projects with jQuery, did some stuff with VUE, did also some small project with Svelte (could replace jQuery..) but decided to dig deep into React. Why? Because after joined a new project the team already used React so had to learn it. Understood that there is a HIGH demand of React devs I decided to follow this path even if my heart goes to VUE/Svelte.

Edmundo Sanchez • Jul 28 '19

The problem here is in the title: javascript.

Anyway, frameworks can't be best at anything, they only provide structure to your work, they are the idea on how things should be, how things can be made easier.

The "best" is the one that is most compatible with your own vision, which is subjective, hence, no winner can rise from that.

Nicolas Polhamus • Jul 29 '19

Thats some mighty fine bait you've got there.

For real though, I'm slowly becoming partial to Svelte. I love the idea behind it, and its fun to play with. But, as with a good amount of other devs have posted in the thread, "best" depends on the situation.

Stephen Chiang • Jul 28 '19 • Edited

Oh boy the can of worms have been opened...🐛🐛🐛 😜

Vaibhav Namburi • Jul 29 '19

Hahaha as the disclaimer goes it depends

But for MYSELF

FW to get paid bank: React
FW to build a start-up from scratch: Vue
FW to build app's FAST: Vue
FW to land freelance clients: React
FW to stick to one language: Node/Express
FW to work with an ML environment via API: Python Flask API

FW to get paid today?: Whatever you're currently good at

Kevin K. Johnson • Jul 29 '19

I want people to keep making frameworks so we have good ideas to steal for the next "best" framework.

Svelte 3 made me feel like when I saw Angular the first time. Keep 'em coming.

Roslan Saidi • Jul 28 '19

Svelte

Rudy Nappée • Jul 28 '19

React isn't a framework guys... Frameworks are evil, juste use react with plain old vanilla es6, eventually redux, lodash, typescript if you like having a complicated life and you're on for writing any webapp 😁

For pure website, PHP or JEE are fine, excepts if you want to deal with ssr shit (and a lot if technical debt).

Maybe there is a start of a troll but I guess it's pretty fair, right ?

rhymes • Jul 28 '19

I suddenly feel an urge to learn how to write scripts with Java:

Writing Java Command Line Tools is Cumbersome... Or is it???

Andy Gherna ・ Mar 2 '18 ・ 3 min read

#java #bash

Jarod Smith • Aug 16 '19

svelte.js

imo the next big iteration since react

Big Idea

All the work to make the state change reactive is done in compile time and not runtime thus speeding up things up alot.

Major Drawback

Still an early framework, so it will need some time to be a truly competitive alternative to something like react and vue, but it will in my mind surpass them eventually

Brian Hanna • Jul 28 '19

I've recently started playing with Svelte and I think I'm in love. For my work stuff, I still go Angular because of its opinionated nature, but that may change in the future

Victor Mbamara 🇳🇬 • Jul 29 '19

What framework does dev.to use??

Stefan Dorresteijn • Jul 28 '19

No Ben, no!

Jon Randy 🎖️ • Jul 28 '19

Riot is the nicest one I've tried - riot.js.org

Kevin Ard • Jul 28 '19

WASM

(Ohhhhhh i just made some people mad 😈)

Carlos Caballero • Jul 28 '19

Angular - large projects
VanillaJs/TypeScript - rest projects

Dumb Down Demistifying Dev • Aug 3 '19 • Edited

Just my two cents.

Svelte for Front-end hands down. It really deserves more attention as it really does helps when developers don't have to fight with the framework they are using and just use it with as little mental boilerplate as possible.

Fastify seems to be one of the fastest back end framework out there. Structure of Fastify is really appealing too.

TailwindCSS is one of my personal favorite CSS tool / framework out there.

Kieran • Jul 28 '19

svelte, just an opinion, but i really like it

Gagan Rai • Jul 29 '19

May be the best javscript framework was inside us all along.🤔

JavaScript-Webix-UI • Aug 26 '20

webix.com and dhtmlx.com

Sirajul Muneer • Jul 29 '19

VanillaJS

Pawan Chaurasia • Jul 30 '19

Vue2.
It's simple and easy to use and good.

Desi • Jul 28 '19

The one that works for the person writing it for the purpose they're writing it 😇

Abraham Williams • Jul 28 '19

The one that makes you successful.

Marko Berger • Jul 28 '19

Wars have started this way

Gabriel Magalhães dos Santos • Jul 30 '19

Javier Guerra • Jul 30 '19

The one you use

Mervin • Aug 8 '19

Vanillajs from dev.to :)

Haven't seen any blogs about vanillajs from scratch to code structure to routing to ajax calls.

Maybe someone here can make a blog about it :)

Daragh Byrne • Jul 29 '19 • Edited

Aschwin Wesselius • Aug 1 '19

I think ExtJS beats any of the frameworks so far. Yes, it's pricey but that is how they support their effort to build good solid code.

Ridwan Kasim • Aug 1 '19

The best javascript framework is the one that works best for you😂😂

keserwan • Jul 29 '19

I love Angular.
I like react.
I am admired in svelte.
I follow vuejs news on some twitter accounts.
Yes blazor is not a js framework, but its something good coming up to compete with js frameworks.