This article was originally published on Codica Blog.
It is well-known that JavaScript is the top choice for everyone in frontend development, that makes JS trends a hot topic yearly. Nowadays, there are tons of JavaScript technologies trying to become popular and widespread among the modern development world.
But what are the JS changes and trends in 2019? In this article, we provide you with the 4 hottest trends in web development that new year brings.
1. Vue.js
Vue.js is gaining more and more grounds every day. It is proved by the fact that GitLab and Alibaba have already implemented it in their work process.
Here is the proving of Vue popularity over time made by State of JS.
Source: https://2018.stateofjs.com
Vue.js is an excellent choice in case you admire creating easy-to-fix and lightweight applications. The learning curve is short making it easy to master Vue promptly and move on to web application creation.
In 2019, Vue developers are offered an improved performance with Vue 2.x, native TypeScript support, SVG animations, proxy support, stable API etc.
We believe Vue.js will continue growing and gaining popularity in the coming years. The scenario will modify radically in 3-4 years. At that time, Vue will beat the rivals, and developers will principally change the tool on behalf of Vue.js.
2. ReactJS
React has been leading among other frontend libraries for three years and the tendency does not seem to change. We don’t see anything that could reverse the situation in the coming years.
According to Stack Overflow 2019 Survey, React holds the first position (74.5%) of Most Loved technologies. As you can see, Vue.js is in hot pursuit with 73.6% and this number tends to grow.
If you’re wondering what tool to choose for your project in 2019, we recommend reading this article comparing Vue and React.
3. AngularJS to Angular 7
Angular is a JavaScript-based open-source front-end web framework created by Google in 2010. It is used to meet many of the challenges encountered in developing single-page applications.
Up to date, we have observed many versions releases from Angular 1 to 7, that in a sense deters many companies and projects from adopting it.
Let’s get acquainted with new Angular 7 features:
Updated CLI prompts: using
ng neworng add, you can choose routing and go with CSS, SCSS, LESS for styles creation.Addition of ScrollingModule that allows implementing virtual scrolling. For example, when elements become visible or invisible, DOM adds or deletes them.
Addition of DragDropModule for drag&drop functionality: lists re-sorting, moving elements between the lists etc.
Updated dependencies: Angular now uses Typescript 3.1, RxJS и Node.js 10.
Here is the performance of Angular popularity since 2016.
Source: https://2018.stateofjs.com
Furthermore, Angular is deemed to be the third most popular JavaScript technology as per Stack Overflow 2019 Developer Survey after jQuery and React foregoing.
Source: Stack Overflow Developer Survey Results 2019
4. GraphQL instead of REST API
Many think GraphQL will become an interchange for the REST APIs in 2019. What is it and why is it better?
GraphQL is a query language for APIs and a runtime for fulfilling those queries with your existing data. GraphQL provides a complete and understandable description of the data in your API, gives clients the power to ask for exactly what they need and nothing more, makes it easier to evolve APIs over time, and enables powerful developer tools.
Here are the three most important issues GraphQL solves:
The need to request data several times. GraphQL allows you to get all the necessary data via a single request to the server.
Client dependency on the server. Using GraphQL, the client communicates in a universal query language, which eliminates the need for the server to specify the structure or composition of the returned data rigidly.
Ineffective ways of development. In GraphQL, developers describe the data required for an interface using a declarative approach. Developers are focused on what they want to get, not on how to do it.
Conclusion
Among JavaScript libraries and frameworks, the community selects for React. This library is well ahead of the competition with its rivals like Vue and Angular. Many developers opt for React due to the fact it is promising and high-potential, scalable option.
However, you should also take into consideration Vue.js which is developing steadily and rapidly. It has already got ahead of Angular, but this option has some features to be improved and updated. In our opinion, Vue needs several more years to come in top place.
Considering the connection of the server and frontend, we believe you should pay attention to GraphQL which is a promising replacement for REST APIs.
For further reading, please check our article: 4 Main JavaScript Development Trends in 2019.
Top comments (5)
"If you’re wondering what tool to choose for your project in 2019, we recommend reading this article comparing Vue and React."
You forgot to link an article!
Oops, this is embarrassing. Thanks for noticing :)
Corrected in the text now. Here's the link, btw: codica.com/blog/react-vs-vue-2019/
Any reason this 2019 trend summary doesn't use the latest Stackoverflow 2019 survey? insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/... - the state of things is a bit different now.
Hey James!
Thanks for pointing this out! The article was initially created a couple of months ago when the newer numbers weren't available yet, so we're updating the stats now.
Thanks again!
A lot of angularjs devs will rather go for react than angular7- if they could choose that is.