In some ways front-end dev is complicated. I think a lot of the reasons is because javascript is much much faster than it used to be and it has enabled us to make fantastic software that was simply impossible before modern JIT js compilers.
As a response we have made websites much more reactive and complicated. When we complicate things we try to find ways to organize them and make it easier to manage. Thus the frameworks were born to solve the problem of creating very dynamic sites. Additionally things like webpack were born to bundle your code, to write code in modern ways for old browsers, etc.
Do you need anything but handwritten css and vanilla JS to make a front end work? Definitely no, you dont need it. Once your site become less of a medium to display things and more of an application to do things then the frameworks and such become much more useful.
So is front-end really over complicated or are we, as developers, using more complicated tools than the job requires?
Yes. And that wouldn't be the fault of the tools. The one wielding the tools is to blame.
Me using a chainsaw to cut a piece of leaf doesn't make the chainsaw "overcomplicated"
I'm wrongly using the right tool for the wrong job. Just like I wouldn't wanna cut a tree log with a hand blade, I wouldn't try to cut a single leaf with a chainsaw.
I think as developers, we've abused our toolsets, thus making our tools appear the bad guy
I agree its a the carrot-on-a-stick analogy if you think about it. I love the evolution in development and its great having those richer experiences but it seems like at some point we have lost sight of what it is that we were trying to do in the first place: improve efficiency, better output with less bugs.
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In some ways front-end dev is complicated. I think a lot of the reasons is because javascript is much much faster than it used to be and it has enabled us to make fantastic software that was simply impossible before modern JIT js compilers.
As a response we have made websites much more reactive and complicated. When we complicate things we try to find ways to organize them and make it easier to manage. Thus the frameworks were born to solve the problem of creating very dynamic sites. Additionally things like webpack were born to bundle your code, to write code in modern ways for old browsers, etc.
Do you need anything but handwritten css and vanilla JS to make a front end work? Definitely no, you dont need it. Once your site become less of a medium to display things and more of an application to do things then the frameworks and such become much more useful.
So is front-end really over complicated or are we, as developers, using more complicated tools than the job requires?
In my opinion we are using more complicated tools than the job requires.
Yes. And that wouldn't be the fault of the tools. The one wielding the tools is to blame.
Me using a chainsaw to cut a piece of leaf doesn't make the chainsaw "overcomplicated"
I'm wrongly using the right tool for the wrong job. Just like I wouldn't wanna cut a tree log with a hand blade, I wouldn't try to cut a single leaf with a chainsaw.
I think as developers, we've abused our toolsets, thus making our tools appear the bad guy
I agree its a the carrot-on-a-stick analogy if you think about it. I love the evolution in development and its great having those richer experiences but it seems like at some point we have lost sight of what it is that we were trying to do in the first place: improve efficiency, better output with less bugs.