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Ben Halpern
Ben Halpern Subscriber

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Which JavaScript frameworks are worth learning in 2021?

I am sure there are no right answers on the topic of JavaScript frameworks, but maybe this discussion will still prove useful if anyone wants to weigh in. Don't worry too much about the distinction of "framework" vs "library".

Feel free to vouch for the popular ones, or offer a lesser-known answer.

Oldest comments (107)

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bobbyiliev profile image
Bobby

As a Laravel dev, I would vote for Alpine.js!

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ky1e_s profile image
Kyle Stephens
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bobbyiliev profile image
Bobby

This is hilarious 😂

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endymion1818 profile image
Ben Read

Does Laravel start with Alpine then? It was Vue last time I checked.

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bobbyiliev profile image
Bobby

You can choose based on your personal preferences.

I am a fan of the TALL stack: TailwindCSS Alpine Laravel and Livewire

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javier123454321 profile image
Javier Gonzalez

The TALL stack is the Get Stuff Done stack. Amazing for solo devs!

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bobbyiliev profile image
Bobby

Absolutely! 🚀

I could have not said this better!

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simonini profile image
Alessandro

As a Rails Developer, I vote also for Alpine.js;
I found it very easy to integrate (with CDN and without Webpacker!).
Is also super easy to use.
For the more complex scenario, I also use vue (but remain that I hate webpacker setup XD).

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patricknelson profile image
Patrick Nelson

New to me... but seems intuitive after a quick look.

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shadowtime2000 profile image
shadowtime2000

I mean like it really depends. What type framework do you want?

Do you want a framework for frontend UIs, for creating videogames, for creating backend servers, or for creating CLIs.

When people thing of JS frameworks they always think of frontend UIs, but JS has a lot more usecases than just that.

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andrewbrown profile image
Andrew Brown 🇨🇦

MithrilJS 🙃

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wolfhoundjesse profile image
Jesse M. Holmes

I was coming to say this, too, in case anyone wants to flex their functional chops. It's a neat project!

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jonrandy profile image
Jon Randy 🎖️

RiotJS

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iainfreestone profile image
Iain Freestone

I am very much still in React land and use Next.js for most projects. But am looking into both Blitzjs and RedwoodJS for my next project, both look very interesting and seem more much more opinionated.

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amorriscode profile image
Anthony M.

Really enjoy using Redwood for my projects. They just released prerendering too!

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patarapolw profile image
Pacharapol Withayasakpunt

Not sure what are the approaches into reducing interfaces between

  • Frontend and backend
  • HTML and JS (and CSS)

Perhaps this is one of them.

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sandordargo profile image
Sandor Dargo

VanillaJS :D

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somedood profile image
Basti Ortiz

Ah, I see. A man of culture! 🥂

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kigiri profile image
Clément

still the best framework

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rishitkhandelwal profile image
Rishit Khandelwal

Agreed.

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atulcodex profile image
🚩 Atul Prajapati 🇮🇳

I'm going with #react

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shaijut profile image
Shaiju T

Angular and React , Angular is used to build enterprise level apps.

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wolfhoundjesse profile image
Jesse M. Holmes

We used React to build an enterprise level app (or, in some instances, collection of apps), but I structured it the same way I structured Angular apps lol.

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katieadamsdev profile image
Katie Adams

Where my Vue devs at? All frameworks have their merit honestly; I'd say think about what core skills you really want to hone and pick a framework that will aid/reinforce those values. Personally, the lack of barrier to entry with Vue was a massive plus for me and to this day I'm yet to find something it can't do for me. I also think it'll give me a good basis to learn Angular at some point in the future. React is quite heavy on the JSX which, if you're not a fan of, might be a reason to give it a miss. However, it's very popular and common among lots of big companies, where there will be lots of good guidance and teamwork to support learning. Gatsby is one I want to learn desperately as GraphQL is something I'm keen on understanding and a framework that goes hand-in-hand with it seems like an opportunity. Smaller frameworks? I'm intrigued by EmberJS a lot. 🤔 There really is no right answer; framework choice is incredibly personal and will likely depend on the type of project you're wanting to work on. :3

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nicozerpa profile image
Nico Zerpa (he/him)

Vue.js has a fantastic pro, and it's that you can add it to legacy projects with a simple <script> tag. That's how I used it for the first time.

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katieadamsdev profile image
Katie Adams

This is really good point, you're so right!

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parsepec profile image
Parsepec

Try gridsome its like gatsby but for vue, it also uses graphql

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katieadamsdev profile image
Katie Adams

This is a great tip, thank you. I'll check it out :)

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itachiuchiha profile image
Itachi Uchiha

I'm using Vue for 3 years. I am a little bit bored. Because there aren't enough Vue libraries. I found my needs for React. But I'm still using it. There is a lot of projects I've made with it.

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katieadamsdev profile image
Katie Adams

That's completely reasonable. Vue is very much in its infancy to React and there's A LOT of documentation, support, and community for the latter. :)

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itachiuchiha profile image
Itachi Uchiha

Yep but still has a huge community :)

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bertmeeuws profile image
Bert Meeuws

I have a pretty decent understanding of react and learning vue 3 atm.
You should really learn react and try out Gatsby. The plugins for gatsby are insane, take off so much of the heavy lifting.

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katieadamsdev profile image
Katie Adams

I've done a little React, and a lot of React Native. I'm v excited for Gatsby and the plugins you speak of sound awesome!

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danroc profile image
Daniel da Rocha

Vue Dev here. Just love it, especially the community around it and the sense that it is a community-led project from the ground up. I do wish there were more articles/libraries/projects focusing on it though. I often check out some exciting projects and then see they are only for React devs. React's popularity makes it a good framework to learn as well, with lots of job offers out there, but also much more competition.

But in the end, if you know one framework well and understand the language and how to build well-structured apps, you can easily transfer your knowledge to other frameworks. Just go with what gives you pleasure as a dev!

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katieadamsdev profile image
Katie Adams

Couldn't have said it better myself!

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jordanfinners profile image
Jordan Finneran

HTML & CSS! 😀

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