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Top JavaScript Frameworks

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According to recent polls, JavaScript (JS) is the most popular programming language today, with 64.96% of developers utilizing it. Also interesting to note is that, rather than write JS code from scratch, developers are opting to leverage JavaScript frameworks. This should come as no surprise, since the best JS frameworks give developers access to robust tools that streamline JavaScript app development for a range of web and mobile projects. This programming tutorial will present the most popular JavaScript frameworks, in order of popularity in 2022 according to statista.com, starting with Node.js, React, and jQuery.

Read: Top Collaboration Tools and Software for Web Developers

Popular JavaScript Frameworks

We will be uploading this page from time to time as test and review more JavaScript frameworks, so be certain to check back often. The JS frameworks listed in this developer tool highlight are not in any particular order.

Node.js JavaScript Framework

Nodejs JavaScript framework

 

Node.js was not only the most used JS framework by developers worldwide in 2022, it topped the list of most used web frameworks, with almost half of web developers (47.12%) using it, according to statistica. Node.js is an open-source, cross-platform JavaScript runtime environment designed to build scalable network applications that run on the server.

Features of Node.js:

  • Fast: Node.js is really fast because it’s built on the V8 JavaScript engine of Google Chrome.
  • Asynchronous: All APIs in Node.js work asynchronously, which means they are non-blocking. After calling an API, the server is free to move to the next one. Node.js employs an event notification mechanism which allows the server to receive a response from the previous API call.
  • Single-threaded: In contrast to today’s more common concurrency model of employing OS threads, Node.js follows a single-threaded model that uses event looping. This allows the server to respond in a non-blocking manner using the event mechanism.
  • No buffering: Node.js cuts down processing time significantly when uploading audio and video files because it doesn’t buffer any data. Instead, applications output data in chunks.

As a server-side language, you can do things with Node.js that you could not with vanilla JS. Here is some code for a local server that listens on port 3000:

const http = require('http');

const hostname = '127.0.0.1';
const port = 3000;

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
  res.statusCode = 200;
  res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/plain');
  res.end('Hello World');
});

server.listen(port, hostname, () => {
  console.log(`Server running at http://${hostname}:${port}/`);
});

Pros:

  • High performance
  • Easy to learn and integrate with other applications
  • Scalable
  • Active community

Cons:

  • Can be difficult to maintain code
  • There are a number of untested or poor quality tools
  • Heavy reliance on callbacks

React JavaScript Framework

ReactJS JavaScript Framework

 

React JS, or simply React, was the second most popular web and JS frameworks in 2022, with 42.62% of web developers using it. Created by Facebook, React is an open-source JavaScript Framework generally used to create responsive and interactive user interfaces (UI). Known to be SEO-friendly, React is favored by developers who build e-commerce websites. It makes use of a virtual DOM, which makes integration with any application quite straightforward.

Features of React JS:

  • Declarative: You can design simple views for each state in your application, and React will efficiently update and render just the right components when your data changes. Declarative views also make the code readable and easy to debug.
  • Virtual DOM: React keeps an ideal, or “virtual”, representation of a UI in memory and syncs it with the “real” DOM in a process called reconciliation. This approach enables the declarative API of React: you tell React what state you want the UI to be in, and it makes sure the DOM matches that state. This abstracts out the attribute manipulation, event handling, and manual DOM updating that you would otherwise have to use to build your app.
  • Event handling: React employs its own fully compatible W3C object model event system and also provides a cross-browser interface to a native event.
  • JSX: JSX is a markup syntax that closely resembles HTML. JSX makes writing React components easier by making the syntax almost identical to the HTML injected into the web page.
  • Fast and Efficient Data Binding: React utilizes one-way data binding whereby data flows from owner to child. This is implemented via an application architecture called Flux controls. ReactJS helps update the application View using Flux controlling the application workflow.
  • React Native: React Native combines the best parts of native development with React. You can use React Native in your existing Android and iOS projects or to create a whole new app from scratch.
  • Component-Based: Everything is a component of the web page. Components manage their own state, then compose them to make complex UIs. Since component logic is written in JavaScript instead of templates, you can easily pass rich data through your app and keep state out of the DOM.

Here is the code for a stateful component that updates the number of seconds elapsed:

class Timer extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);
    this.state = { seconds: 0 };
  }

  tick() {
    this.setState(state => ({
      seconds: state.seconds + 1
    }));
  }

  componentDidMount() {
    this.interval = setInterval(() => this.tick(), 1000);
  }

  componentWillUnmount() {
    clearInterval(this.interval);
  }

  render() {
    return (
      <div>
        Seconds: {this.state.seconds}
      </div>
    );
  }
}

root.render(<Timer />);

Pros:

  • Easy to learn
  • Comes with a comprehensive set of efficient tools
  • Reusable components
  • Virtual DOM
  • SEO friendly
  • Small size
  • Ability to test and debug quickly

Cons:

  • Could benefit from more documentation
  • Some developers complain about JSX’s complexity and steep learning curve
  • Regular upgrades need developers to sustain recent learning changes
  • Not a comprehensive technology. Needs to be used with other frameworks

jQuery JavaScript Framework

jquery JavaScript Framework

Although there is debate about whether jQuery is a library or a framework, there is ample evidence to suggest that it qualifies as a JS framework. Hence its well earned spot as the third most popular web and JS framework in 2022, with 28.57% of web developers using it. Contributing factors to jQuery’s ongoing popularity is its speed, small size, and numerous features. For instance, jQuery facilitates HTML document traversal and manipulation, event handling, animation, and Ajax and includes an easy-to-use API that works across all major browsers.

Features of jQuery:

  • HTML/DOM manipulation
  • CSS manipulation
  • HTML event methods
  • Effects and animations
  • AJAX
  • Utilities

Here is an Ajax call a script on the server “/api/getWeather” with the query parameter “zipcode=97201” that replaces the element #weather-temp’s HTML with the returned text:

$.ajax({
  url: "/api/getWeather",
  data: {
    zipcode: 97201
  },
  success: function( result ) {
    $( "#weather-temp" ).html( "<strong>" + result + "</strong> degrees" );
  }
});

Pros:

  • cross-browser compatible
  • CSS3 compliant
  • lightweight – only 30 kB minified and gzipped
  • easy to learn
  • faster programming
  • easy, impressive animations
  • open source with regular updates
  • outstanding API documentation

Cons:

  • open source — vulnerable to any modifications
  • can lead to future errors if used without a strong JS foundation
  • slower than regular CSS

Express JS Framework

Express JS Framework

 

Express is a fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework for Node.js that’s used by big name companies such as Twitter, Intuit, and Accenture.

Express helps you to easily manage routing, set up middleware packages, and integrate plugins in your server-side code. You can also use Express to create RESTful APIs that integrate with other apps as well as dynamically serve static HTML files to clients over the web.

Features of Express JS:

  • Supports JavaScript and offers simple client routing requests
  • Functions as a middleware

The following code is an example of a very basic route.

const express = require('express')
const app = express()

// respond with "hello world" when a GET request is made to the homepage
app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('hello world')
})

Pros:

  • Can reduce web app building time by half
  • Suitable even for beginners
  • Very moderate learning curve
  • Lightweight

Cons:

  • Error messages are not very descriptive
  • Unable to manage computationally-heavy tasks
  • It possesses an unbalanced API
  • May have security issues

Angular JavaScript Web Development Framework

Angular JS Framework

Angular is powerful open-source framework launched by Google in 2016. It is used by many organizations – including my previous employer, Trading Central – to create dynamic Single Page Apps (SPAs) and Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) with faster page loads.

In stark contrast to Express’s unopinionated and minimalist design, Angular is extremely dictatorial and not very minimalist at all. Having said that, Angular does offer some outstanding features such as two-way data binding, which enables real-time synchronization between the model and view. It also has built-in dependency injection, and supports TypeScript. Having said that, learning Angular can be quite challenging, even for experienced developers.

Features of Angular JS:

  • Data Binding: When there is a change in the view, the model is instantly updated; conversely, when there is a change in the model, the view is updated automatically as well.
  • Directives: Angular allows you to extend HTML with built-in attributes with the “ng” prefix. These attributes are used to add interactivity/functionality to your Angular app.
  • Dependency Injection (DI): A small part of your app can require HTTP service to make backend calls, with the DI system, you can deliver services to the parts of the application that need it.
  • Templates: Each template in Angular is a chunk of HTML code and a fragment of the application UI. It is regular HTML but with added functionality.

Here is some sample JavaScript code that presents the user with a dialog:

// imports
import { MatDialog } from "@angular/material/dialog";
import { ConfirmDialogComponent } from "../confirm-dialog/confirm-dialog.component";

// SatisfactionRatings enum

@Component({
  selector: "app-survey",
  templateUrl: "./survey.component.html",
  styleUrls: ["./survey.component.css"]
})
export class SurveyComponent implements IDeactivateComponent {
  // declarations

  constructor(public dialog: MatDialog) { }

  //methods...

  public canExit(): boolean | Observable<boolean> {
    return this.ngFormRef.dirty
      ? this.openUnsavedChangesDialog()
      : true;
  };

  private openUnsavedChangesDialog(): Observable<boolean> {
    const dialogRef = this.dialog.open(ConfirmDialogComponent, {
      width: '26.5rem',
      data: { 
        dialogTitle: 'Unsaved Changes', 
        dialogMessageLine1: 'You have unsaved changes.',
        dialogMessageLine2: 'Are you sure you want to leave the page?',
        yesButtonText: 'Leave this Page',
        noButtonText: 'Stay on this Page'
      }
    });

    return dialogRef.afterClosed();
  }
}

Pros

  • Employs the Model View Controller (MVC) pattern, which is familiar among most developers.
  • Angular is highly modular, which helps break complex applications into modularized components.
  • Components and services are reuseable across the application.
  • Easy DOM manipulation. Since Angular works directly with the DOM, changes take effect immediately, and a virtual Dom is not required.
  • Two-way data binding.
  • Angular includes testing hooks that are made available by the Testability service and can be accessed from the browser.

Cons

  • Understanding Angular takes time and comes with a steep learning curve.
  • Angular is more complex than other JS frameworks.

Vue.js JavaScript Framework

Vue JS Framework

 

Marketed as “the progressive JavaScript framework” by its creators, Vue is a small and highly performant framework that’s specifically tailored for building user interfaces and single-page applications.

It was created by Evan You and is currently maintained by a team of core developers. Vue.js focuses on declarative rendering and component composition and consists of a set of core libraries that are designed to be easy to use, extensible and customizable.

Vue.js uses HTML-based template syntax to bind data to the rendered document object model (DOM). It does this by compiling the templates into highly optimized JavaScript code. Vue.js also features a one-way data flow model that makes it very straightforward to use in your applications.

Here is the ubiquitous Hello World app in Vue.js:

<!--
Say Hello World with Vue!
-->

<script>
export default {
  data() {
    return {
      message: 'Hello World!'
    }
  }
}
</script>

<template>
  <h1>{{ message }}</h1>
</template>

Key Features of Vue.js

  • Cost-effective virtual DOM view option
  • It comes with a built-in component that helps with CSS transitions and animations
  • Precise two-way data binding preferences
  • Easy to understand and learn

Pros

  • Simple to integrate
  • Small in size
  • Offers two-way communication
  • Flexible framework

Cons

  • Lack of essential plugins
  • Not suitable for extensive scaling
  • Has language barriers
  • Too flexible for its own good

 

Next.js JS Framework

Next.js JS Framework

 

Next.js is a free and open-source front-end framework by Vercel that is based on React. Though mainly used to build user interfaces and static websites utilizing a mix of JavaScript and React components, the framework is also capable of performing server-side rendering and creating universal applications.

Features of Next.js:

There are a couple of features that help set Next.js apart from other JavaScript frameworks:

  • Next.js can automatically generate pages based on the file system structure of the project. For example, if there is a “users” folder in the root directory, Next.js will generate a page for each markdown file inside it. This feature allows for a faster development process, eliminating the need to create pages for each piece of content manually.
  • Incremental static generation, whereby statically generated pages are updated incrementally as new content is added or changed.

Here is a Date component from the next-learn-starter.vercel.app:

import { parseISO, format } from 'date-fns'

export default function Date({ dateString }) {
  const date = parseISO(dateString)
  return <time dateTime={dateString}>{format(date, 'LLLL d, yyyy')}</time>
}

Pros of Next.JS

  • Helps build static websites fast with dynamic functionalities.
  • Great for SEO because it offers server-side rendering and the building of static websites.
  • Thriving community
  • Fast time to market thanks to pre-made components that enable you to enter the market more quickly.
  • Responsive design: your designs should look fantastic on all devices, regardless of viewport size.

Cons of Next.JS

  • Less-than-stellar plugin system.
  • Routing is constrained except for an option with Node for dynamic routing.
  • When an application contains several pages, the build time can be significant.

Ember.js JS Framework

Ember JS Framework

 

Dating all the way back to 2011, Ember.js is what you might call an oldie, but a goodie. Still going strong in 2023, Ember is excellent for developing complex apps due to its rigid organization, which helps keep extensive applications from spiraling out of control.

Ember is well suited to working with large ecosystems and lets you change any single part of it without disturbing the rest of the app. Other key traits are that Ember is exceptionally stable and boots rapidly. On the downside, it could be more flexible and is not the easiest to master.

Features of Ember.js:

  • Ember.js can create reusable and maintainable JavaScript web applications.
  • Ember.js has HTML and CSS at the core of the development model.
  • It provides instance initializers.
  • The routes are core features of the Ember.js which are utilized for managing the URLs.
  • Provides Ember Inspector tool for debugging Ember applications.
  • Uses templates that help to automatically update the model, if the content of applications changes.

Ember’s built-in router is considered to be a best-in-class solution that incorporates async data loading with dynamic URL segments and query parameters, so it is only fitting that we take a look at the code of a routing class.

import EmberRouter from '@ember/routing/router';
import { scheduleOnce } from '@ember/runloop';
import config from 'ember-api-docs/config/environment';
import { inject as service } from '@ember/service';

class AppRouter extends EmberRouter {
  location = config.locationType;
  rootURL = config.routerRootURL;

  @service metrics;
  @service fastboot;

  constructor() {
    super(...arguments);

    if (!this.fastboot.isFastBoot) {
      this.on('routeDidChange', this, this._trackPage);
    }
  }

  _trackPage() {
    scheduleOnce('afterRender', this, this.__trackPage);
  }

  __trackPage() {
    // this is constant for this app and is only used to identify page views in the GA dashboard
    const hostname = config.APP.domain.replace(/(http|https)?:?///g, '');

    const page = this.url;
    const title =
      this.currentRouteName === undefined ? 'unknown' : this.currentRouteName;
    this.metrics.trackPage({ page, title, hostname });
  }
}

AppRouter.map(function () {
  this.route('404');
  this.route('ember-cli');
  this.route('project', { path: '/:project' });

  this.route(
    'project-version',
    { path: '/:project/:project_version' },
    function () {
      this.route('classes', function () {
        this.route('class', { path: '/:class' }, itemRoutes);
      });

      this.route('functions', function () {
        this.route('function', { path: '/:module/:fn' });
      });

      // Namespace routes
      this.route('namespaces', function () {
        this.route('namespace', { path: '/:namespace' }, itemRoutes);
      });

      // Module routes
      this.route('modules', function () {
        this.route('module', { path: '/:module' }, itemRoutes);
      });

      // Common sub-routes
      function itemRoutes() {
        this.route('methods', function () {
          this.route('method', { path: '/:method' });
        });
        this.route('properties', function () {
          this.route('property', { path: '/:property' });
        });
        this.route('events', function () {
          this.route('event', { path: '/:event' });
        });
      }
    }
  );
  this.route('class', { path: '/classes/:class' });
  this.route('module', { path: '/modules/:module' });
  this.route('data-class', { path: '/data/classes/:class' });
  this.route('data-module', { path: '/data/modules/:module' });
});

export default AppRouter;

Pros

  • High scalability
  • Supports URL-oriented development
  • Huge DEV community
  • Highly structured and clear documentation

Cons

  • Not terribly flexible
  • Renders slowly
  • Not suitable for small apps
  • Some issues with the testing process

Mithril

Mithril JS Framework

 

Mithril.js is a modern client-side JavaScript framework for building Single Page Applications. It is small (< 10kb gzip), fast, and provides routing and XHR utilities out of the box. An excellent choice for developing SPAs, Mithril does not depend on other libraries or lock web developers within strict patterns. Instead, it offers idiomatic patterns that developers can follow, and plenty of tools that can help them if needed.

Though last on our list (for now), demand for Mithril developers is expected to grow as 2024 draws closer. As such, Mithril will likely be more widely used in the next year or two.

Features of Mithril JavaScript Framework:

  • Extremely small (< 10kb gzip)
  • highly performant
  • uses plain JavaScript
  • Great for Single Page Apps and complex user interfaces

The code example below uses a factory to instantiate a new model for each instance of the ClassNamesComponent. Though optional, using a factory makes it possible to have multiple simultaneous instances of the component render without having them interfere with one another.

import stream from 'mithril/stream';

function classNameModel() {
  return {
    hasError: stream(false),
    hasAnimation: stream(false),
    corner: stream('squared')
  };
}

function getClassName(model) {
  return [
    model.hasError() ? 'error' : '',
    model.hasAnimation() ? 'animated' : '',
    model.corner()
  ].join(' ');
}

const DynamicClassComponent = {
  view({ attrs }) {
    return (
      m('button.Button.Button--small', {
        className: getClassName(attrs.model)
      }, 'Demo component')
    );
  }
};

function ClassNamesComponent() {
  const model = classNameModel();
  return {
    view() {
      return (
        m('div',
          m('label',
            m('input[type=checkbox]', {
              checked: model.hasError(),
              onchange(event) {
                model.hasError(event.target.checked);
              }
            }),
            m('span', 'Add error class')
          ),
          m('br'),
          m('label',
            m('input[type=checkbox]', {
              checked: model.hasAnimation(),
              onchange(event) {
                model.hasAnimation(event.target.checked);
              }
            }),
            m('span', 'Add animated class')
          ),
          m('br'),
          m('label',
            m('input[type=radio][name=corner][value=rounded]', {
              checked: model.corner() === 'rounded',
              onchange(event) {
                model.corner(event.target.value);
              }
            }),
            m('span', 'Rounded')
          ),
          m('label',
            m('input[type=radio][name=corner][value=squared]', {
              checked: model.corner() === 'squared',
              onchange(event) {
                model.corner(event.target.value);
              }
            }),
            m('Span', 'Squared')
          ),
          m('hr'),
          m(DynamicClassComponent, { model })
        )
      );
    }
  };
}

Pros

  • Easy to learn
  • Lots of documentation
  • Very flexible
  • Offers an intelligent auto-redrawing system

Cons

  • Small only when zipped; code doesn’t look very appealing when parsed and evaluated
  • Some teams remain skeptical towards Mithril due to its lagging popularity

Final Thoughts on Top JavaScript Frameworks

In this tutorial, we explored some of the top JavaScript web development frameworks, including Next.js, Ember.js, Mithril, Vue.js, React.js, and Angular.js (just to name a few). We will be updating this JS framework guide in the coming weeks and months, so be sure to check back here in this tutorial often.

Read: Top HTML and CSS Online Courses for Web Developers

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