Top 4 Javascript Frameworks For 2017
Javascript has played a big role in the rise of the web and mobile applications. Since it’s humble beginnings with the Netscape Navigator in 1995, Javascript has evolved into such a powerful force that nearly 95% of all the web uses it for client side programming. With a whole lot of frameworks now in existence, it seems like almost every other week there is a new JS library people are gushing about.
Javascript frameworks empower developers to quickly develop single page applications and web application prototypes without worrying much about the code structure. Being able to launch full fledged applications within a matter of weeks has given JS frameworks, the spotlight it truly deserves.
In this article we take a look at four frameworks that are bound to create a ripple in the developer community this year:
1. ReactJS
Developed and maintained by the engineers at Facebook along with a community of individual contributors, React is one of the most talked about Javascript libraries of the last year. It’s an open source library for building user interfaces. The popularity of React can only be substantiated by the 1000 contributors (Github) and the host of websites using it, including Netflix, Airbnb, Walmart and Imgur to name a few.
ReactJS is not a MVC framework, it’s just a Javascript library that renders the view. It therefore can be termed as the ‘V’ of the MVC, integrating seamlessly with other frameworks for the ‘M’ and ‘C’ part of the architecture. Another great feature of React is the use of Virtual DOM, which makes manipulation of the DOM much faster. React’s reputation for performance comes from this little innovation.
It does have a slightly steeper learning curve, but makes development really straightforward. It’s a perfect solution for high performance, web application requirements.
2. AngularJS
A popular enterprise Javascript framework maintained mainly by Google, it was created to address the challenges faced during development of single page applications. It’s a hugely popular framework, the sixth most starred project of all time on Github. A wide variety of web apps and websites are built using AngularJS, including PayPal, Udemy, Weather.com and the Guardian, along with a bunch of Google sites.
Angular is a MVC type framework with two way data binding being its most notable feature. Two way data binding relieves the backend of any templating responsibilities. Whenever there is a data change, updation happens on both model and view side enabling you to build highly reusable view components.
AngularJS is immensely popular, with over 10,000 sites currently using it (according to Libscore). It is one of the best frameworks to use for building complex web applications as well as single page applications.
3. MeteorJS
MeteorJS is an open-source Javascript framework built using Node.js, specifically for rapid prototyping. The framework was developed by the Meteor Development Group, a startup backed by YCombinator and funded by Andreessen Horowitz.
It’s a complete framework that uses Javascript on both client side and server side, with tons of features for backend development, frontend development, business logic and database management. Being a full stack framework, Meteor has a bunch of advantages to offer. For one, it comes bundled with several built-in features, such as reactive templates, automatic CSS and JS minification on the production server. Hot code reload means that any change in the database is reflected on the UI without any time loss. Meteor also comes with its own custom package manager called atmosphere.js which has over 2,600 smart packages.
Since its launch in 2012, Meteor has drastically grown in popularity and is currently being used by some big names like Honeywell, IKEA and Qualcomm.
4. BackboneJS
Backbone is a single file JavaScript framework developed by Jeremy Ashkenas of the CoffeeScript and Underscore.js fame. Being a lightweight framework, it’s quite popular with developers looking to give some structure to their JavaScript applications quickly. It is especially popular for developing single page applications.
Backbone is based on the MVP (model – view – presenter) design paradigm which itself is a derivative of the MVC architecture. It provides models with key-value binding and custom events for handling data changes, Views have declarative handling, while the Router handles URL and state management. All in all, a pretty solid framework for building single page applications quickly and easily.
With over 26,000 stars on the Github repo, Backbone is being used by some really big names like Airbnb, Pinterest, Trello and Reddit.
There are a ton of Javascript frameworks, and choosing these 4 are purely a personal / professional preference. If you have a personal favourite that we haven’t listed above, do let us know in the comments section below!