Clever Geek Handbook

Top 5 JS frameworks for front-end development in 2020. Part 1

Probably, front-end developers are familiar with something similar: you enter in the search engine “the best JavaScript frameworks” and you get in response a whole mountain of results, from which it is very difficult to choose exactly what you need.



What is best for developing client-side parts of web projects? The author of the material, the first part of the translation of which we publish today, says that she, as a person working in programming full time, knows that front-end providers are looking for something that will allow them to speed up work and facilitate the creation of interfaces.







The compilation of this rating of frameworks and libraries was based on a survey of more than 450 developers from ValueCoders . Five of the most interesting tools got here.



ValueCoders Developers Choose React



When I found out that my colleagues were voting for React, I was not surprised. Most of the survey participants considered React one of the best JavaScript libraries. Our developers have used React in many projects. This made it possible to clearly see the strengths of this tool. Anyone who uses React gets a combination of the following features:





Our developers rely heavily on React's capabilities in creating front-end project logic. The tool is very powerful, but at the same time, which surprised me, it is surprisingly easy to use.



Overview of our application



Our application is arranged quite simply. This is a music teacher program that helps them manage online school activities. This project helps teachers do their basic business, making it easier to solve organizational problems.



The main difficulty in creating this project was the development of a control panel designed for teachers. It allows them to manage students' activities and track their achievements. We solved this problem by using the Redux library ecosystem as the basis of the application. Namely, we created a section of the application intended for teachers, using which they could receive information about students' achievements, demonstrate new music lessons to them, communicate with them, compare their game with anything, leave them feedback.









Information about the student and his activities



Actually, I gained experience with React during the creation of this application. Does this mean that React is a recognized leader in front-end tools? No, it doesn’t. Many, for example, can especially note Vue, calling this framework one of the best and remembering the rich set of standard auxiliary tools available in it.



In general, it’s the front-end developers who decide which framework is suitable for solving a specific problem. Making such decisions, they are faced with the need to answer a lot of difficult questions. Moreover, given the fact that developers usually have almost no time to choose a tool, they usually stop at what they know. At the same time, they miss the potential advantages of competing technologies. For example - we can talk about the fact that the framework familiar to the developer, if you compare it with something else, may not be the fastest.



And for beginner developers, it’s difficult to even make a choice, limiting the options to the top three leading frameworks - Angular, React and Vue. In order to facilitate this choice, we have selected the 5 most interesting front-end frameworks and libraries that should be paid attention to those who are going to do web development in 2020.



Big five front-end tools



Based on the popularity and prevalence of front-end development tools, here are the five most notable JavaScript frameworks and libraries:





Each of these tools has developed a significant community of developers. And if you are looking for the basis for your next web project, then you will not lose by betting on one of these tools. Here is information about them over the past six months, collected by npmtrends.com .









Download volumes for angular, ember-source, react, vue, and backbone packages









Comparison of angular, ember-source, react, vue and backbone packages



Now let's talk about each of these projects. Let's start with React.



1. React



In the JavaScript world, React is definitely a leader. This library uses the ideas of reactive programming , it introduces front-end development and many of its own concepts.



In order to flexibly use React in the development of web projects, you need to learn many additional tools. Here, for example, is not an exhaustive list of such tools provided by libraries that can be used in conjunction with React. These are Redux, MobX, Fluxy, Fluxible, RefluxJS. In React development, you can also use jQuery AJAX, Superagent, Axios, and the Fetch API.



â–Ť Competitive mode



Here is a tweet from October 24th of this year, which reports on the introduction in React of an experimental feature to support the competitive mode (Concurrent Mode). React developers are constantly improving this mode. Here you can find links to performances from React Conf 2019 on competitive mode and other React innovations, such as rendering lazy (created with React.lazy



) components inside React.Suspense



components. Both of these technologies make React applications more responsive by rendering without blocking the main thread. This will allow React not to delay the processing of high-priority tasks, such as shaping the application's response to user interactions.



â–ŤSuspense and other technologies



React.Suspense



technology improves the processing of asynchronous data loading in React applications. If we describe this technology in a nutshell, then we can say that it allows you to organize the component's waiting for certain conditions to be fulfilled and at the same time not to disrupt the operation of the entire application.



Another innovation introduced in React 16.8 is hooks. React hooks allow developers to take advantage of React’s essential capabilities without having to use class-based components. Among these features are managing the state of the component and working with methods of its life cycle. React contains several built-in hooks, but it allows the programmer to create his own hooks.



React applications consist of components that contain the application logic and HTML markup to form the interface. In order to improve the interaction between the components, the developer can use Flux or a similar JavaScript library.



React programming uses concepts such as state and properties of a component. They are represented by relevant objects. Their use allows organizing data storage in a component and data exchange between components. For example, transferring data from program logic implemented by a component to the application interface, or transferring data from parent components to child components.



â–Ť React Ecosystem Elements



Around the React library, an entire ecosystem has emerged, represented by various supporting tools and libraries. Here are some of the components of this ecosystem:





Concluding the talk about React, we can say that this library may well be the best choice for those who plan to create an advanced web project.



2. Angular



At the AngularConnect 2019 conference, the Angular development team made statements that allow Angular 9 to be considered a turning point in the development of this framework. In particular, it is planned to make the Angular Ivy compiler a standard tool available for all applications. The main advantages of this technology are that its application allows you to speed up the development process, reduce the size of applications, increase their productivity and reliability.



Modern Angular is an advanced modular framework for front-end development. Previously, to connect Angular to a page, it was enough to simply add the appropriate tag to its HTML code, now the developer can import the Angular modules he needs into his project.



Angular is known for its flexibility. That is why Angular 1.x versions are still relevant. However, many developers today use Angular 2+ because of the MVC framework architecture, which has significantly changed towards component-based architecture.



Anyone who wants to use Angular will have to face some difficulties while mastering this framework. So, to create Angular-based applications, it is almost mandatory to use TypeScript. Although this complicates the work with Angular, this situation has its advantages. In particular, it increases the reliability of applications due to advanced type control, this gives the programmer additional development tools.



â–ŤEngular ecosystem elements



Here are some parts of the Angular ecosystem:





Angular is a full-fledged JS framework that gives the modern web programmer everything necessary for productive work. Angular should pay attention to those who would like to have at their disposal an extensive set of standard tools and minimize the use of third-party libraries.



Continuation, part 2



Dear readers! If you were asked to name the best framework for front-end development - what would you choose?







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