JavaScript frameworks like React, Angular, and Vue have become immensely popular recently. But what exactly are they and why are they needed when vanilla JavaScript exists?
A JavaScript framework library provides structure and utilities for developing JavaScript web applications. Frameworks aim to help streamline the development process by providing solutions to common tasks like managing state, routing, and DOM manipulation out of the box.
While Vanilla JS is sufficient for simple scripts and interactions, as web apps grow in size and complexity, manually handling all the code organization and architecture can become difficult to manage. This is where frameworks shine. They provide patterns and best practices that can help reduce boilerplate code and enforce a consistent structure across larger projects with many developers.
Some key benefits of using a framework over vanilla JS include:
- Built-in architectures and best practices for structure and maintainability
- Tools for managing state and tracking changes across components
- Simplified DOM manipulation with virtual DOM concepts
- Routing capabilities for building single-page apps
- Developer productivity boosts thanks to less code redundancy
- Large open-source ecosystems with abundant reusable components
Frameworks can help developers build robust web applications more efficiently. While they have a learning curve, the long-term gains often outweigh the initial time investment. Understanding the differences between vanilla JS and popular frameworks can help developers decide when a framework may be suitable for a project.
Problems With Vanilla JavaScript
JavaScript was initially created to add simple dynamic behaviors to web pages. But as web applications became more complex, developers found vanilla JavaScript challenging to scale and maintain for several reasons:
- Browser Compatibility Issues – Vanilla JS code may work fine in one browser but have unexpected behavior in others. You have to handle cross-browser differences manually.
- DOM Manipulation Complexity – The DOM API can be verbose and low-level for significant interface changes. You end up writing a lot of code to manipulate elements.
- Lack of Structure/Patterns – With just vanilla JS, there are no established structures or best practices. Code can easily turn into spaghetti as projects grow.
The complexity of large vanilla JS apps makes code difficult to understand and maintain. Apps break easily as they scale. There is a clear need for frameworks that address these problems.
Top 3 Frameworks
JavaScript frameworks have exploded in popularity over the past several years, with React, Angular, and Vue emerging as the top contenders. Here’s an overview of each and why they have become so widely used:
React.js
Created by Facebook, React is known for its use of a virtual DOM and components, which provide excellent performance and modularity. It’s great for building complex, interactive UIs with dynamic data flows. Many major companies use React including Facebook, Netflix, Dropbox, and Uber.
React is a good choice when:
- You need to build a complex UI with dynamic updates
- You want to leverage React’s large ecosystem of third party libraries
- Your team is already familiar with React
Angular
Developed by Google, Angular provides an MVC-style framework optimized for building SPAs. It features a full-fledged CLI, dependency injection, and robust tooling. Angular is commonly used by Google, Upwork, Forbes, and Freelancer.
Angular is ideal when:
- You need a full-featured framework with batteries included
- Your team has experience with Angular or TypeScript
- You want to build enterprise-grade SPAs
Vue.js
Created by Evan You, Vue is designed to be lightweight, modular, and beginner-friendly. It focuses solely on the view layer but can be expanded with companion libraries. Vue is used by GitLab, Laracasts, Nintendo, and Grammarly.
Vue is a good option when:
- You want a simple, approachable framework
- You need high customizability and flexibility
- You want great documentation and ecosystem
React.js
React is one of the most popular JavaScript frameworks developed by Facebook in 2013. It has gained widespread popularity due to its performance, flexibility and simplicity. Some key features of React include:
- Virtual DOM – React uses a virtual DOM to optimize performance. Instead of manipulating the actual DOM directly, React creates a virtual representation of it. When state changes, React compares the result with the previous virtual DOM and only updates what needs to be changed in the real DOM. This minimizes expensive DOM operations and allows for faster UI updates.
- JSX – JSX is an XML/HTML-like syntax that works nicely with React. It makes it easy to describe UIs in a declarative, component-based fashion. JSX gets compiled to JavaScript and allows you to write UI code that looks like HTML/XML inside JavaScript.
- Uni-directional data flow – Data in React flows in one direction down through the component hierarchy via props. This makes the flow of data easy to trace and debug. Parent components pass data to their children via props, and children pass data to their parents via callbacks.
- Developed by Facebook – React was initially developed by Facebook and is used extensively in their products. It benefits from continued development by Facebook and a large community.
React’s virtual DOM, JSX, and uni-directional data flow make it efficient, scalable, and easy to reason about. Its popularity is underpinned by strong community support and the fact that it was designed and is used by a large tech company like Facebook.
Angular
Angular is an open-source web application framework developed by Google. It uses TypeScript and provides built-in features for animation, forms, HTTP services, and more.
Angular follows the model–view–controller architectural pattern. The framework handles the view (HTML) and controller (TypeScript code), while the model represents the data in the application.
Some key features of Angular include:
- Two-way data binding – Angular automatically syncs data between the model and view components. Developers don’t have to manually update the DOM when data changes.
- Templates – Angular uses templating to build dynamic views using HTML and Angular template syntax. Template directives provide programmatic manipulation of HTML.
- Dependency injection – Angular provides dependency injection (DI) as part of its core framework. Dependency injection makes components modular and reusable.
- Use of TypeScript – Angular applications are written in TypeScript, which is a superset of JavaScript that adds type-checking and class-based object-oriented programming. TypeScript improves code quality and maintainability.
Overall, Angular provides a powerful web application framework to build dynamic single-page applications. The data binding, templating, and MVC architecture allow developers to build robust applications with a modular and testable code base.
Vue.js
Vue is one of the most popular JavaScript frameworks and is a progressive framework for building user interfaces.
Some key features of Vue:
- Progressive Framework – Vue is designed to be incrementally adoptable. The core library focuses on the view layer only and is easy to pick up and integrate with other libraries or existing projects.
- Virtual DOM – Vue uses a virtual DOM to optimize re-rendering and minimize DOM operations. The virtual DOM is a key difference between Vue and other lightweight frameworks.
- Declarative Rendering – Vue uses an HTML-based template syntax that allows you to declaratively bind data to the DOM. Vue’s reactivity system automatically tracks changes and efficiently re-renders components when your data changes.
- Components – Vue is component-oriented, allowing you to build encapsulated and reusable UI components with well-defined APIs.
- Lightweight – Vue has a very small footprint at just 18kB min+gzip. It provides great performance and is very fast for basic applications.
- Mixins – Vue allows splitting and reusing code through mixins. You can mix and match functionality in components without inheritance.
Overall, Vue provides an approachable API and great developer experience while still being performant. Its incremental adoption, virtual DOM, templates, and component architecture make it a great choice for modern web projects.
To get started with Vue, check out the official Vue documentation which provides excellent tutorials and guides.
Framework Comparison
When selecting a JavaScript framework, some key factors to consider are performance, learning curve, ecosystem, and flexibility.
1) Performance
React offers excellent performance through its virtual DOM diffing algorithm. Angular has made big performance improvements in recent versions. Vue is also quite fast and lightweight. Overall, all three frameworks have good performance that is suitable for most web apps.
2) Learning Curve
React likely has the easiest learning curve, as it is simpler and uses plain JavaScript with JSX. Angular has a steeper curve due to its TypeScript usage and more complex project structure. Vue falls somewhere in between, with an approachable learning curve.
3) Ecosystem
Angular has the most robust ecosystem with extensive documentation and tooling provided by Google. React also has a thriving ecosystem and community support. Vue has a growing ecosystem that is not yet as extensive as React or Angular.
4) Flexibility
React offers the most flexibility as a library that can integrate with other tools. Angular provides an opinionated framework-first approach. Vue balances flexibility and approachability. It can be used as a simple view layer library like React, or as a full framework.
Conclusion
In summary, while vanilla JavaScript is sufficient for simple websites and apps, as an application grows in size and complexity, the need for a JavaScript framework becomes increasingly important. Frameworks like React, Angular and Vue provide solutions to common problems like managing state, two-way data binding, routing, and simplifying DOM manipulation.
The top 3 frameworks each have their own advantages and disadvantages. React is simple and flexible with a shallow learning curve. Angular provides built-in services and robust tooling. Vue combines simplicity with advanced features. Ultimately, the right framework depends on your app’s requirements and the team’s preferences.
Overall, JavaScript frameworks are extremely useful for building scalable, maintainable front-end apps. They speed up development, enforce best practices, and reduce the need to reinvent the wheel. The top frameworks have strong community support and continuous improvement.
While vanilla JS is still relevant for small scripts and widgets, I recommend using a framework like React, Angular, or Vue for most single-page apps. Take some time to learn each framework’s syntax and patterns. The investment will pay off with cleaner code and more productive development. Don’t be afraid to try a few frameworks before settling on one – all provide common capabilities but with slightly different approaches. With the power of a robust framework behind your code, you can focus on building great user experiences instead of wrestling with state management and DOM manipulation.
