With the advancement in the JavaScript ecosystem, several frameworks have emerged over the years. Frameworks give the power to build JavaScript applications faster, better, and in the right way.
Back in 2000-2010, JavaScript was only popular as a browser-based client-side language but now it has the capability the same as any other programming language. Thanks to NodeJS which made all this possible.
Introduction to Frameworks
Frameworks are the tools that allow faster development of applications. They solve common problems and keep the code organized and structured.
Therefore, using a good framework is always the way to go for standard application development and shipping.
Early JavaScript Frameworks
JavaScript could only do simple animations and DOM manipulations earlier. So, small libraries like jQuery simplified DOM manipulations and they were very popular. Therefore, jQuery was a success at that time. It made everything easier and faster than using vanilla javascript.
Around 2010, AnguarJS emerged to change the face of front-end development. And, it was the first major front-end JavaScript framework that allowed developers to build dynamic web applications. Also, NodeJS was released in 2009, which is a runtime environment for JavaScript. It allowed the execution of JS code outside the browser. Therefore, JavaScript exploded in popularity. And it gave birth to probably hundreds of NPM libraries and frameworks existing today.
Top JavaScript Frameworks
A JavaScript framework makes the development of large scale web applications possible. It provides a standard structure to build applications.
So, using a framework takes care of many details behind the scene. And in turn, helps the developer to focus on the application logic. Here are the most popular and in-demand JavaScript Frameworks.
1. React
Facebook introduced React in 2013 as a JavaScript library for building reusable UI components. It is the most loved framework according to StackOverflow.
The reason why react became so popular is because of its Virtual DOM and reusable components. It follows the declarative programming style. Therefore, you just specify what needs to be done and not how it is to be done. Also, there is a huge job demand worldwide for React developers.
Features of React
- React uses JSX which uses XML-like tags to specify the HTML elements and components. And we can use and embed javascript expressions in JSX.
- In React everything is a component and they can be composed inside other components. Therefore, this way of composing components is really powerful and helps to reuse code.
- There are two prime concepts namely Props and State. Props are how React passes data to other components. And the state is the data that only belongs to a component.
Benefits of using React
- JSX offers a powerful and intuitive templating that is productive.
- React allows for one-way data flow. So it makes sure that data never moves back up in the component tree.
- Lastly, learning react helps you to move to other related ecosystems like React Native, React VR easily.
2. Angular
Angular is a full MVC javascript framework. It is not related to the AngularJS framework which was popular back in the early 2010s. Both are owned and developed by Google.
Angular is a full framework that comes with all the tools you need to develop a front-end web application. They include routing, navigation, animations, etc, and CLI. Therefore, large companies like Google, Microsoft, and Upwork are using angular to power their sites.
However, the only drawback with angular is its steep learning curve. It is difficult for beginners to grasp it and can take months to understand well.
Features of Angular
- Follows the MVC model for building web applications.
- Two-way data binding.
- Allows cross-platform development of applications.
3. Vue JS
Vue is a JavaScript framework that is growing very fast. It has borrowed the best features of React, Angular. And as well provides all the features of a full framework like Angular.
VueJS was developed by a software engineer at Google in 2014. Now it is one of the most loved frameworks just after React. And it also has the highest GitHub stars in the category of frameworks.
Major companies like Font Awesome, Nintendo, and Alibaba use Vue. However, the job demand for VueJS is less than React or Angular but it is growing quite fast.
Features of VueJS
- It uses a virtual DOM similar to react.
- It is lightweight and fast.
- Uses components and templates.
4. Svelte
Svelte is a new way of building javascript applications. It was released in 2016. Svelte removes the concept of rendering components at runtime. So, most of the work is done in compile time. And it still offers the same benefits as React. It leads to a smaller and faster web application. Therefore, it is really a popular choice for small applications.
Features of Svelte
- Compiles the code at runtime/build-time.
- Less bloated code.
- Faster initial rendering of the application.
5. ExpressJS
NodeJS allowed developers to run JavaScript on the server. This led to the birth of Express in 2010. Express is a back end JavaScript framework for NodeJS. So, it allows developers to build full-stack applications.
Express provides all the necessary features like routing, server rendering, and building APIs. Also, it has a feature that allows using middleware. So you can add extra functionality like cookie-parser, JSON parser to express applications using middleware.
Express is still leading and is the top JavaScript framework for the backend. Therefore, around 90% of the NodeJS web applications use ExpressJS as their default backend framework.
Features of ExpressJS
- Minimal and lightweight.
- Allows fast development of full-stack web apps.
- Allows the use of custom middlewares.
6. React Native
The Facebook team developed React Native in 2015 just two years after their huge success with React. React Native is a cross-platform solution for building mobile apps.
It largely reduces the cost of mobile development. So there is a huge demand for React Native developers.
It uses React and JavaScript and is compiled down to iOS/Android. And every feature of React including Components, State, Props is available.
Features of React Native:
- Uses React to build mobile applications
- Compiles down to Native Android Components
- Faster Development of mobile apps.
7. Electron JS
It is a framework to build Cross Platform Desktop Apps using JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. You can develop desktop apps much faster with it than doing native development. Therefore it is very popular. Desktop Apps like Visual Studio Code, Twitch, Slack are all made with electron js.
Conclusion
The selection of a framework depends on several factors and your requirement. You need to know the job demand in your area and the time you are willing to invest to learn it.
