Today, a modern website cannot do without JavaScript to display dynamic content on the pages. JavaScript is a scripting language that is widely used among web designers and was created to enable dynamic HTML. The language can not only use procedural and functional programming techniques, but can also be used for object-oriented approaches.
While JavaScript contains only a limited set of methods and functions, the language allows you to create your own methods that can be used over and over again. As a result, a number of JavaScript Frameworks and libraries have emerged over the years to provide developers with enhanced functionality and ease of use. In the following, we present the most frequently used JS Frameworks.
What Is A JavaScript Framework?
A JavaScript framework is a collection of tools and features that enable web developers to create websites and their dynamic content faster and more effectively. The following reasons speak for the use of JS frameworks:
- Effectiveness: a JavaScript framework usually contains one or more libraries, which contain frequently recurring methods and functions. With those tasks can be solved more easily than it would be possible with pure JavaScript. This saves the developer time and resources, since new functions do not have to be written each time.
- Unified programming code: JavaScript frameworks contain structures that make the process of coding more organized and, above all, more consistent. This makes the finished JavaScript code more maintainable.
- Scalability: The structure of the JS framework makes it possible to scale websites and their functions effectively. This is possible by using new functions or adapting existing functions.
- Cross-browser compatibility: Modern frameworks determine on which browser a JavaScript is executed and thereby automatically generate executable versions of the JavaScript code that work reliably on all browsers and operating systems.
KEY POINTS
- A JavaScript framework is a collection of tools and features.
- They enable web developers to create websites and their dynamic content faster and more effectively.
- A key difference between a library and a framework is that a framework requires the developer to follow rules and conventions in order to work effectively.
- Google’s Angular framework has the largest community of supporters worldwide.
Differentiation From JavaScript Libraries
JavaScript libraries also contain predefined JavaScript functions that make the work of website developers easier. However, unlike a framework, such a library is not organized and structured end-to-end. It merely contains a collection of tools that developers can choose to use to accomplish specific tasks. An example of this is the well-known library jQuery. It makes it possible to create, for example, animated content or AJAX-based web pages. Those can reload their content from external sources without having to reload the page.
A key difference between a library and a framework is that a framework requires the developer to follow rules and conventions in order to work effectively. A library, on the other hand, is simply a collection of functions from which the programmer is free to choose which function to use.
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The Most Used JavaScript Frameworks
Below we describe the JavaScript frameworks that are most commonly used in agencies and by web developers. Each framework follows its own strategy and philosophy. In addition each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
The React framework has gained a leading place among web developers, as it was primarily created for developing web interfaces. It is a very powerful JavaScript framework developed by none other than Facebook’s development team to build user interfaces for all kinds of websites. Another advantage of React is that it is very efficient to work with and is based on declarative programming. Thus, interactive UI elements can be created very easily.
Because React uses a virtual Document Object Model (DOM), modifications to the UI can be tracked immediately during development. In practical use, this means that only the components of the UI whose content has actually changed in the process need to be updated.
The framework is supported by an active community that has created many tools and resources to help React developers in their work. Even well-known big players in the industry such as Netflix, Instagram, and Airbnb use React in their web interfaces.
- Reusable Components: React’s component-based structure allows developers to easily import or reuse UI components without needing to create them from scratch, saving time and effort.
- Seamless Integration: React integrates smoothly with other front-end and back-end frameworks, such as the popular PHP framework Laravel, ensuring a cohesive development experience.
- Unidirectional Data Flow: React.js employs a downward data flow architecture, ensuring that changes in child components don’t affect parent components. This enhances code stability and reduces the likelihood of errors.
- Simplified Syntax: React utilizes JSX, a JavaScript extension that resembles HTML, making the code more readable, easier to understand, and maintainable.
- Virtual DOM: React creates a virtual version of the DOM (vDOM) and compares it with the actual DOM, rendering only the components that have changed. This approach significantly improves performance by avoiding the need to re-render the entire page.
- SEO-Friendly: React.js has evolved into one of the most SEO-friendly front-end frameworks, making it easier for search engines to crawl pages. This is a significant improvement over traditional JavaScript frameworks, which often struggled with dynamic content and SEO.
- Ongoing Development: React is continuously evolving, with regular updates that introduce new features like Hooks, Fiber, Concurrent Mode, and Suspense. These improvements reduce boilerplate code, enhance concurrency and rendering speed, and boost overall performance, solidifying React’s position as a leading JavaScript framework.
- Strong Community Support: React is backed by a vast developer community, with nearly 1.6k contributors on GitHub and a wealth of learning resources, tutorials, and guides available. Additionally, React is supported by Facebook, one of the world’s largest and most influential companies.
- Learning Curve: While JSX offers a simpler syntax, it may pose a learning challenge for new developers.
- Complexity: Some developers find React to be more complex and challenging to learn compared to other popular frameworks like Vue.js.
- Documentation Issues: React has been criticized for its documentation, which sometimes struggles to keep up with new releases and features, leading to difficulties for developers.
- Limited to View Layer: React only handles the View layer in the MVC model, requiring developers to rely on additional technologies for the Model and Controller layers.
React is the foundation of many high-profile websites, including Airbnb, Asana, BBC, Cloudflare, Codecademy, Dropbox, Facebook, GitHub, Imgur, Instagram, Medium, Netflix, OkCupid, PayPal, Periscope, Pinterest, Product Hunt, Reddit, Salesforce, Scribd, Shopify, Slack, Snapchat, Squarespace, Tesla, The New York Times, Typeform, Twitter, Uber, Udemy, WhatsApp, and Zendesk.
Angular comes from Google and is primarily used to create so-called single-page-websites used. In specialist circles, the framework is also referred to as “Angular 2”, as there was a previous version called AngularJS. With version 2, Google’s developers have made far-reaching changes. The most important modification is that the framework no longer uses JavaScript, but TypeScript (a scripting language from Microsoft).
However, since TypeScript is based on JavaScript and also contains all language elements, there are no restrictions for JavaScript developers. Those who work with TypeScript can enjoy the advantages of data types and error checking. Of course, the framework allows the creation of reusable classes and methods, as well as custom components. In addition, Angular has been adapted to allow the creation of web applications responsively. That means that the finished product works and is usable across platforms, i.e. on PC screens, smartphones and tablets alike.
Angular has extensive documentation and a worldwide community. Last but not least, the framework significantly reduces coding due to dependency injections and data binding.
- Component-Based Architecture: Angular shifted from the MVW (model-view-whatever) architecture to a strictly component-based approach starting from Angular 2. This transition promotes reusability by allowing components to be used repeatedly across the application, improving code readability and simplifying maintenance.
- Optimized Server Performance: Angular offers built-in caching and several features designed to enhance server performance, ensuring a faster and more efficient application.
- MVC Pattern: Angular’s Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern introduces key features such as scopes and data binding. It also ensures a clear separation between the UI and application logic, improving the overall structure of the code.
- Two-Way Data Binding: A standout feature of Angular is its two-way data binding, which establishes a connection between the Model and View layers, allowing changes in one to be automatically reflected in the other. Although some competing frameworks have opted for simpler one-way data binding, Angular’s approach offers more dynamic interactions.
- Extensive Third-Party Integrations: Angular provides a wide range of third-party integrations, enabling developers to further enhance their web applications with additional functionalities.
- Strong Community Support: Angular benefits from strong support from both Google and a vast developer community, with over 1,600 contributors on GitHub. Additionally, AngularJS is well-documented and has an extensive library of resources available, backed by a large community of developers.
- TypeScript Requirement: Angular requires the use of TypeScript, which, despite its benefits, can present a steep learning curve for new developers. This requirement can be a barrier to entry and partly explains why Angular faces stiff competition from frameworks like React and Vue.js.
- Large and Heavy Framework: Compared to more lightweight alternatives such as React and Vue, AngularJS is relatively large and bulky, with a size close to 550-600KB. This makes it less suitable for smaller-scale applications.
- SEO Challenges: Angular has difficulties with search engine optimization (SEO) due to accessibility issues with search engine crawlers. For projects where SEO is a priority, React may be a better choice due to its superior SEO capabilities.
Some prominent websites that have utilized Angular include Google, Allegro, Blender, ClickUp, Clockify, Delta, Deutsche Bank, DoubleClick, Freelancer, Forbes, Guardian, IBM, Instapage, iStock, JetBlue, Lego, MailerLite, Microsoft Office, Mixer, Udacity, Upwork, Vevo, Walmart, Weather, WikiWand, Xbox, and YouTube.
Node.js occupies a special position among JavaScript extensions. JavaScript was originally created for use in the browser to dynamically display web content. The power of the language has led the creators of Node.js to create a runtime environment that can be used outside of web browsers based on JavaScript. Thus, Node.js is mostly found on server environments and is even capable of creating a full-fledged web server with just a few lines of JavaScript.
It was designed with a focus on economical use of resources. JavaScript, as a scripting language, specifies an event-triggered architecture. This is exploited in Node.js, as less RAM is required per requested network connection in server operation, since a separate thread does not have to be started on the server for each open connection.
- Increased Efficiency: As efficiency rises, server costs and personnel requirements decrease.
- Avoids Performance Loss: Scaling-related performance issues can be minimized.
- Flexible Deployment: While often used on scalable cloud clusters, Node.js can also run on a VPS or low-cost dedicated server.
- Cost Reduction: Development costs can be reduced by up to 58%, and Node.js is growing faster than any other JavaScript framework.
- Long-term Savings: Organizations using Node.js for more than two years have experienced a 12% reduction in development costs.
- Single-Threaded Performance: Node.js uses an event loop on a single thread, which can lead to performance bottlenecks when handling long-running blocking processes.
- Concurrency Limitations: Lacks native support for multithreading or parallel processing, making it difficult to fully utilize multi-core systems.
- Learning Curve: JavaScript, while versatile, can be challenging for developers unfamiliar with it, especially those used to languages like Java, C++, or Python.
LinkedIn, eBay, Netflix, GoDaddy, Groupon, Uber, NASA, Walmart, and more.
Similar to Angular, Vue.js is primarily used for single-page websites. The developers of this still relatively young JavaScript framework have deliberately optimized their product. So beginners in particular can quickly get started with a steep learning curve and a quick sense of achievement.
For example, it is possible to include templates in the HTML code. In addition, Vue.js is said to be much more flexible than other frameworks, as it imposes far fewer rigid constraints on the developer than other frameworks. It can be integrated as a whole into a web project, but there is also the possibility to use only individual components in the sense of a JS library. This even makes it possible to combine Vue.js with Angular or React, for example. Another advantage that should not be underestimated is the slimness of Vue.js, which means that web applications based on Vue.js can be loaded quickly.
- Simplicity: One of Vue.js’s biggest strengths is its simplicity. Developers familiar with React or AngularJS can quickly adapt to Vue without much effort. Its straightforward structure allows for more coding with less syntax complexity. Vue employs a single-file component system, meaning that HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are all contained within a single file for each component.
- Built-in MVC: Vue has an inbuilt Model-View-Controller (MVC) framework, making it easy and fast to configure, unlike ReactJS.
- Ease of Learning: Vue does not require you to learn JSX or TypeScript, as React and AngularJS do. Instead, it uses simple HTML templates that are easy to understand, reducing code complexity.
- Small Size: Another significant advantage of Vue.js is its lightweight nature. The compressed version of Vue.js is only about 18-20 KB, making it much smaller than its bulkier competitors like React or AngularJS.
- Integration: Vue.js can be used to build applications from scratch at a rapid pace and can also be seamlessly integrated into existing web applications without any issues when creating new components.
- Small Community: Vue.js doesn’t have the backing of tech giants like Facebook or Google, as React or Angular do. While Vue has managed to build a community of supporters, with over 360 contributors on GitHub, it still pales in comparison to React’s 1.6k contributors.
- Limited Employment Opportunities: While Vue.js is quite popular in China and the United States, its adoption may be limited in other parts of the world. The US typically leads in adopting new technologies, with other regions following behind.
9gag, Adobe, Apple Swift UI, Behance, Bilibili, BMW, Chess, Font Awesome, GitLab, Hack The Box, Laravel, Laracasts, Louis Vuitton, Namecheap, Netlify, Netguru, Nintendo, Pluralsight, Shien, Stack Overflow, Trivago, Trustpilot, Upwork, Wizzair, Zoom.
Svelte follows a completely different concept, as it is not a JavaScript framework in the true sense, but rather a JavaScript library. It does not use the framework’s own modules at runtime, as other frameworks do. Instead, Svelte’s own compiler translates the code into JavaScript code at runtime, which is then delivered to the browser. The translated JavaScript code, in turn, does not depend on any other libraries.
This tool is easy to learn, as the Svelte code is basically nothing more than HTML with variables and functions embedded in curly braces. A Hello World looks something like this:
Hello {name}!
As you can see, you can clearly recognize the integration of JavaScript and CSS in HTML in the Svelte code. Complete functions can also be integrated. As in Angular, Svelte relies on TypeScript, which, as mentioned, contains the language elements of JavaScript.
- Component-Based Model: Svelte follows a component-based model similar to popular JavaScript frameworks like React and Vue.js. The new and improved reactivity features in Svelte version 3 have made building reusable components faster and easier, requiring less code.
- Easy to Learn: Svelte has a gentle learning curve, making it ideal for new developers. Reusable components are created using simple HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, with no need for additional knowledge of TypeScript or JSX.
- Smaller Size: Svelte offers the smallest bundle sizes among all libraries or JavaScript frameworks. It doesn’t have a bulky JavaScript framework runtime overhead, as it’s simply a compiler.
- Excellent Performance: Unlike React, Svelte doesn’t use a virtual DOM but relies on reactive programming to update the DOM efficiently. This approach allows Svelte to achieve some of the fastest rendering times, outperforming most other frameworks in performance benchmarks.
- SEO-Friendly: Svelte is optimized for search engines, unlike some other frameworks that struggle with search engine crawlers.
- Supports Both Client-Side and Server-Side Rendering
- Limited User Base: Despite its critical acclaim and popularity within the developer community, Svelte has not yet seen widespread industry adoption. While it has a few high-profile clients, the number of websites using Svelte is only around 3-4 thousand, primarily in the United States.
- Lack of Tooling: A common criticism of Svelte is its lack of mature tooling for debugging applications.
- Small Community and Fewer Resources: Compared to other leading JavaScript frameworks, Svelte has a smaller community and fewer available resources.
1Password, AB Lab, Absolute Web, Bekchy, BlueHive, Cashfree, Chess, Comigo, Entur, Farmbox, Fusion Charts, GoDaddy, HealthTree, Rakuten, Razorpay, The New York Times.
Which JavaScript Framework Is Most Widely Used?
Google’s Angular framework undoubtedly has the largest community of supporters worldwide. In particular, Angular is highly valued for the development of business applications, because the underlying MVVM approach (Model-View-View-Model) allows this framework to be used to create single-page web apps. The web application is rendered by Angular client-side in the browser, relying on the well-known library jQuery. Not to be neglected is the advantage of the structured and clear architecture. Thus, services and components are used, which help to organize the JavaScript code and, above all, make it reusable. This facilitates the scalability and maintainability of the web application, which helps save costs in the company.
However, the size of a community says nothing about the actual spread of a JavaScript framework. According to Statista, Node.js was far ahead in 2022: around 47 percent of all web developers use this framework, closely followed by React with a rate of 42 percent. Angular and Vue.js occupy places 5 and 6, each with just under 20 percent of all web developers surveyed.
How Many JavaScript Frameworks Are There Anyway?
One thing is certain: there are many more JavaScript libraries than JS frameworks. Counting all the frameworks and making statistics about them is almost impossible. It’s easy to develop a framework yourself if you know how to code, and many of these products have never seen the light of day. In a technical article from the developer portal Codica.com jokingly claimed that there are about as many JavaScript frameworks as there are stars in the Milky Way. The only thing that can be said with certainty that the number is less than 300 billion.
Which JavaScript Framework Should You Learn First?
This question cannot be answered in a general way either, since it depends on many factors and the objectives. If you want to get a taste of a first JS framework, Vue.js is undoubtedly a good choice. Those wanting to create simple web applications as an objective will do well in React. However, if you have complex websites with a large range of functions in mind, you should not shy away from the effort and look into Angular.
Another aspect is the demand on the job market if you want to enter the web development profession with JavaScript. Here you should find out which frameworks are most commonly used, for example, in agencies and which skills are most frequently requested in job advertisements. You can then adjust your learning program to improve your career opportunities.
For those who like to share ideas in communities, forums, etc., Angular is the first choice when it comes to learning a JavaScript framework. This is not only because you can always find someone to answer technical questions when problems arise, but also because you are learning a relatively complex framework at the same time.
With a JavaScript framework, you get a collection of functions and libraries that make it easier for the web developer to program JavaScript applications. In this way, frameworks can speed up the workflow during programming, and also provide the programmer with additional functions and methods that pure JavaScript cannot offer.
JS frameworks contribute to effective development. In addition, there is the scalability and reusability of created functions and methods, which are often already provided in the framework. This allows developers to focus on their application rather than spending time developing basic functionality.
A number cannot be given here, as there is an almost limitless amount of JavaScript frameworks, many of which have never appeared in the public domain. However, if you limit yourself to the most common frameworks, even then you will come up with 20 or more.
In this article alone, we have presented only six of them, and the list could be extend. And last but not least, everyone can create their own JavaScript framework – according to their own needs, preferences and requirements.
