Why Do Some Programmers Say Frontend Is Easier Than Backend?

Posted on by Mark FeehilyComments Off on Why Do Some Programmers Say Frontend Is Easier Than Backend?

So, you’re wondering if frontend development is easier than backend development. Truth be told, the question is rather challenging. Frontend and backend development are two somewhat complicated aspects of web development in 2023. Fortunately for you, we’ll determine which type of development is more challenging in this article: frontend or backend! 

Do you ever wonder why so many backend developers say that frontend is easier? Discover the answer to this and many other related questions in this article! Have you ever asked yourself questions like What makes frontend easier than backend? What skills are needed to become a successful frontend developer? or What techniques do developers use to make the frontend development process easier?  

It is well known that backend development is more difficult than frontend development. A study by the University of Oxford found that “Backend developers tend to have a higher workload than frontend developers, due to the complexity of the programming language used”. The same study also noted that “The complexity of the backend language also means that backend developers need to have a higher level of technical knowledge than frontend developers”. 

In this article, you will learn why so many backend developers say that frontend is easier, what skills are needed to become a successful frontend developer, and what techniques are used to make the frontend development process easier. After reading this article, you will have a better understanding of why frontend is easier than backend and why it is important to learn both. 

Is Frontend Development Easier Than Backend?​​

During the past decade, frontend development has grown in popularity as more engineers switch from backend development to frontend. Due to its greater availability and perception as being “easier” than backend development, frontend programming has the propensity to be used more frequently. The primary reason so many developers like the frontend are its simplicity. Frontend development has a lower learning curve and calls for less technical knowledge than backend programming. This makes it possible for developers to get started straight away even with just a basic understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Moreover, several frontend frameworks, such as React and Vue, have made it simpler for developers to create working prototypes of websites fast. The tools available are another reason frontend development is perceived as being simpler. Website development is made simpler for developers by the abundance of tools, libraries, and frameworks available. As an illustration, CSS preprocessors like Sass and LESS may significantly cut down on the time required to develop and maintain CSS code. The same is true for JavaScript build tools like webpack and gulp, which may assist developers in writing task automation and optimized code.

The fact that frontend development is more visible and tangible than backend development is a last consideration. As a result, developers can more easily comprehend and interact with the code they write since they can view the results of their labors in real-time in the browser. Developers may be highly motivated by this and debugging and troubleshooting are also much facilitated. In conclusion, many backend engineers assert that the frontend is simpler since it is more approachable, has access to tools, and is more visible and concrete. Because of this, a lot of developers are switching from the backend to the frontend, and this trend is probably going to continue.

What is Frontend & Backend Development?

Frontend development (client-side development) refers to the development of the parts of a website that the user can see and interact with. This includes code that is responsible for the look, feel, and behavior of the website and includes HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. 

Backend development (server-side development) is the creation of sections of a website that the user does not directly view or interact with. This contains program code for databases, servers, and APIs that manage and handle the website’s data.

What’s the Difference?

The main distinction between frontend and backend development is that the former concentrates on the external components of the website, whilst the latter does so for its internal components. Backend development is in charge of data processing and storage, whereas frontend development is in charge of the appearance, feel, and functionality of the website.

Frontend developers build the aesthetics, style, and interaction of the user interface using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The logic, databases, and APIs that power the user interface are created by backend developers in languages like PHP, Python, Java, and Ruby. Backend development is concerned with how the user interface works and interacts with the server-side logic and data, whereas frontend development is concerned with how the user interface appears and feels.

Why Is Frontend Harder Than Backend?

Why is it that some claim that frontend development is more difficult than backend development these days? There are several reasons why this is so, let’s look at them.

Keeping up with a rapidly changing environment

The rapid advancements in frontend development have given it a reputation for being challenging. Every few months, new frameworks and technologies like React, Angular, and Vue are released to improve development. These continual updates mean that staying up-to-date requires constant learning of new lessons and courses. Once Angular was the most popular frontend framework, but now React is the preferred choice for many companies. Even Netflix has gone back to using the original JavaScript due to performance concerns. With no indication that these advances will soon slow down, it’s important to remember how quickly the industry is developing the next time someone claims that frontend development is easy.

More information to consider

Frontend development may prove to be equally challenging in 2023 as backend development. With opinionated frameworks, state management systems, and intricate logic, there should be no assumption that the workload for backend developers is greater than that of frontend developers. However, frontend development entails more than just programming, as it demands creativity, aesthetics, and an understanding of user experience. This includes being adept with design techniques, creating prototypes, and making sure the design looks professional. Furthermore, it necessitates taking into account how users will interact with the software to deliver the best user experience.

More tools to learn

As the workplace evolves, so too must your skillset. Keeping up with the latest tools, such as Webpack, React, Yarn, and NPM can be a challenge, as you may find yourself constantly learning new technologies, leaving less time to learn other programming topics, such as different paradigms, languages, and best practices. Nevertheless, it is important to remain up-to-date and not be discouraged by the ever-changing landscape.

Test suites and testing

Testing the frontend of a web application is more difficult and tedious than the back end. In addition to checking for the theoretical soundness of functions and objects, and assessing edge scenarios, frontend testing requires tests for design components, logical operations, and state changes. As such, manual testing is often preferred over creating a unit test suite, which is more time-consuming and frustrating. All in all, frontend testing is more complex, laborious, and frustrating than backend testing.

Why Is Backend Harder Than Frontend?

Both backend and frontend development have specific explanations for why they are more difficult.

The higher learning curve for beginners

Compared to frontend development, learning backend programming can be more difficult. To build a website’s frontend, only HTML and CSS are needed. However, the backend requires a deep understanding of programming languages. This can be daunting for newcomers and lead them to believe that frontend development is easier. In reality, the learning curve for the backend is much steeper than for the frontend.

Frontend is less visually appealing than the backend

Just knowing where to look can help you find the backend, which can be just as aesthetically pleasing as the frontend. However, with frontend development, you can often see the effects of your changes in real time. The response time for the backend can be unpredictable, making it more challenging for a beginner.

Many backend languages

The complexity of learning backend languages can be attributed to their variety and the need to comprehend multiple languages. While frontend development only requires knowledge of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, backend development involves mastering three languages to work with the various methods available. Although the concepts are generally the same, transitioning between languages can be challenging, leading many to stick with the language they are most comfortable with or switch only when necessary for a better career opportunity.

Summary 

So, which is harder, the backend or the frontend? The truth is that both types of development are equally difficult, but for different reasons. Frontend development necessitates comprehension of design concepts and user experience, as well as the ability to produce an aesthetically beautiful user interface. Awareness of server architecture, security, and strong technical language and framework knowledge are all necessary for backend development. In the end, both styles of development are essential for a successful product, and they each call for a unique set of talents. The distinctions between the two and the many tasks that each may be utilized for must be understood. You can more readily pick which form of growth is best for you if you are aware of the distinctions.

The post Why Do Some Programmers Say Frontend Is Easier Than Backend? appeared first on Flatlogic Blog.

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Looking at both 2022 and 2023

Posted on by Mark FeehilyComments Off on Looking at both 2022 and 2023

#​620 — January 6, 2023

Read on the Web

We’re back for 2023 ? As is our tradition, we’re taking a quick look back at the past year – this time led by a few choice retrospectives, then followed by the most popular articles and tools included in JavaScript Weekly in 2022. There’s sure to be some things you missed or want to revisit – enjoy!
__
Peter Cooper and the Cooperpress team

JavaScript Weekly

? The 2022 JavaScript Rising Stars — For the seventh time, Michael Rambeau kicks off our year with a roundup of ‘trending projects’ in the JavaScript space. Bun takes the top spot for 2022, but we’ll leave the rest for you to check out. A few guest authors also share their opinions on the ecosystem.

Michael Rambeau et al.

Evan You Looks at 2022 and 2023 — You’ll know Evan for Vue.js and Vite and here he recaps what happened in the Vue world in 2022 (like Vue 3.x becoming the new default version) and what we can expect in 2023, including the mysteriously named Vapor Mode.. We’re also warned Vue 2.x has one year before it reaches EOL.

Evan You

? Retire your Legacy CMS with ButterCMS — ButterCMS is your new content backend. We’re SaaS so we host, maintain, and scale the CMS. Enable your marketing team to update website + app content without needing you. Try the #1 rated SaaS Headless CMS for your JS app today. Free for 30 days.

? ButterCMS sponsor

Six JavaScript Projects to Watch in 2023 — A reasonable selection, focused on newer, more cutting edge, but also very promising projects (including the aforementioned Bun).

AsyncBanana

LOOKING BACK AND FORWARD:

Michael Shilman writes about the future for Storybook in 2023.

Ryan Carniato ponders where JS frameworks are headed in 2023.

? ▶️ 10 JavaScript conferences to consider attending this year.

Some other 2022 roundups and reflections: Cassidy Williams, Igalia Web Platform Team, Dave Rupert, Stéphanie Walter, Pawel Grzybek, Stephanie Eckles, Michelle Barker, Rachel Andrew, Remy Sharp, Ahmad Shadeed, the HTTP protocol ?

RELEASES:

Spacetime 7.4 – Lightweight timezone library.

Lerna 6.4 – JS monorepo build tool.

TestCafe 2.2 – End-to-end Web testing.

Vuetify 3.1 – Vue component framework.

? Top Articles & Tutorials of 2022

As determined by their popularity in JavaScript Weekly.

1. Douglas Crockford: “The best thing we can do today to JavaScript is to retire it.” — The most popular link of the year was to an interview with the author of JavaScript: The Good Parts (and discoverer-of-sorts of JSON) where he explained the benefits of code reading, why we need better languages, and how he won’t “write about JavaScript again.”

Evrone

2. Ecma International Approved ECMAScript 2022 — The second most popular item of the year was a bit more positive, with Ecma making ECMAScript 2022 a standard. Dr. Axel brought us up to speed with what this meant at a practical level. You’ll already be using some of these features – this move just tied up the formalities.

Dr. Axel Rauschmayer

▶  Whiskey Web and Whatnot: Your New Favorite JavaScript Podcast — A fireside chat with your favorite devs. Guests include Wes Bos, Charlie Gerard, Chris Coyier, and Kelly Vaughn.

Whiskey Web and Whatnot sponsorpodcast

3. JS Function Composition: What’s The Big Deal? — James’ articles on JavaScript fundamentals are always popular and last year we got a fresh one focusing on a common activity: function composition. “What’s the big deal?” he asks.

James Sinclair

4. AbortController is Your Friend — AbortController provides a way to abort web requests at any point without waiting for a response but it’s possible to twist it into other use cases, as we saw here.

Sam Thorogood

5. Ten Common JavaScript Issues Developers Face — A good old-fashioned list. If you’ve been working with JavaScript for many years, these are potholes you (probably) know to avoid but there’s enough to chew on here otherwise.

Ryan J. Peterson

6. A Pipe Operator for JS: Introduction and Use Cases — Many developers feel a pipe operator is missing from JavaScript. Luckily there’s a pipeline operator proposal at stage 2 in TC39. Dr. Axel explains why you’d want this and how it could work.

Dr. Axel Rauschmayer

7. Patterns.dev: Modern Web App Design Patterns — A free book you can download in PDF format or enjoy on the Web. Learn about lots of fundamentals, from how different styles of rendering or importing resources work to performance optimizations and case studies.

Lydia Hallie, Addy Osmani, and Others

8. Decorators for ES6 Proposal Reached Stage 3 at TC39 — It’s a few years in the making, but a decorators proposal conditionally made it to stage 3 and people were very excited. Fingers crossed we see more from this in 2023.

Ecma TC39

? Top Code & Tools of 2022

As determined by their popularity in JavaScript Weekly.

1. Rome Formatter: Super Fast JavaScript Formatting — I liked the image for this enough to want to include it again 😉 As of 2023, Rome (now at version 11) remains an ambitious project that sets out to replace a lot of JS tools in one hit with the initial focus being on Prettier-esque code formatting, as well as linting. Compiling, bundling, and testing features are scheduled to appear throughout 2023.

Rome Team

2. TypeScript 4.6 Released — Not a lot to say here, as TypeScript is always popular, and it’s now up to version 4.9, but with v4.6 it took a step forward by being able to detect more syntax errors in plain old JavaScript, a benefit for all JavaScript-developing VS Code users, at least.

Daniel Rosenwasser

Dynaboard: The Pro-Code Web App Builder Made for Developers — Build high performance public and private web apps in a collaborative — code forward — WYSIWYG environment.

Dynaboard sponsor

3. Vite 4.0 Released — This was only a month ago, too. From the same creator as Vue.js, Vite is an exciting piece of frontend tooling offering lots of goodies out of the box. We look forward to more Vite news in 2023.

Evan You and Vite Contributors

4. Lexical: An Extensible Text Editor Library — Out of Meta came a new text editor framework putting accessibility, performance, and reliability at its heart. At only 22KB gzipped and with React 18+ support (but vanilla is also OK), it reminded us of Draft.js but they say it’s the “next generation” and Meta is already replacing Draft.js with Lexical in their internal apps.

Meta / Facebook

5. Bun: A (Still) Interesting New JavaScript Runtime — Bun appeared in summer 2022 as a new JavaScript runtime built not around V8 (like Node.js or Deno are) but WebKit/Apple’s JavaScriptCore. It includes its own bundler, transpiler, task runner, and npm client, but most significantly boasts huge performance improvements over existing options and supported a lot of Node and Web APIs out of the box.

Jarred Sumner

6. JSON Crack: Visualize JSON Data in Graph Form — Got JSON, want to view it? This is a neat tool for working with and displaying JSON data structures. You can play with it online, embed the graphs into your site, or download them for further use.

Aykut Saraç

Stuck on Node 10? Need to Upgrade but Don’t Have Time? Contact Us ?

UpgradeJS.com | Node and JavaScript Upgrade Services sponsor

7. Shader Park: Create Interactive 2D and 3D Shaders with JavaScript — An open source Web-based platform, community, and library for simplifying the mystifying world of shaders and GPUs by letting you create them procedurally with JavaScript. Note: This site is heavy on the browser given its use of WebGL, so may not be suitable for every device.

Blankensmith and Whidden

8. Axios 1.0: The Popular HTTP Client Library/API — With 98k GitHub stars and a presence in numerous thousands of package.json files, Axios remains very popular and it’s amazing it only hit 1.0 in 2022. The Fetch API has taken much of Axios’ thunder but, like jQuery, Axios still wraps up a lot of functionality into a broadly liked API. (Official homepage.)

Axios Project

? Jobs

Developer Relations Manager — Join the CKEditor team to build community around an Open Source project used by millions of users around the world ?

CKEditor

Backend Engineer, TypeScript (Berlin / Remote) — Thousands of people love our product (see Trustpilot for yourself). Join the team behind it and help us scale. ?

Feather

Find JavaScript Jobs with Hired — Create a profile on Hired to connect with hiring managers at growing startups and Fortune 500 companies. It’s free for job-seekers.

Hired

We’re back to normal service as of next week! If you’ve got anything you’d like to submit for our consideration, hit reply and let us know.

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Next.js vs React: Which One to Choose for Your App?

Posted on by Mark Feehily0

The burning question today is What’s better: React or Next.js? Let’s have a look closely at both, compare them and see the difference between library and framework. In the React world, Next.js is one of the most popular frameworks for “hitting the ground running.”

What is Next.js?

Next.js is an open-source JavaScript framework for developing fast, lightweight, and easy-to-use web applications and static websites (one-pages) using React. Next.js was created by Vercel in 2016. Next.js requires Node.js and can be initialized using npm. There are a lot of reasons why Next.js has such a strong reputation in the world of application development. They are known for being reliable as they offer image optimization, internationalization, zero-config, Next.js analytics, hybrid: SSR and SGG, fast refresh, API routes, TypeScript support, file-system routing, code-splitting and bundling, incremental static regeneration, and built-in CSS support, etc.

Next.js includes all the features needed to build an application. Moreover, the documentation is excellent and it is becoming very popular among developers for frontend development.Here are the most popular platforms and apps of Next.js: Twitch.tv, TikTok, Hulu, Binance, and many others that involve a massive number of users engaging with complex data influxes.

What is React?

React is an efficient, declarative and flexible JavaScript library for building interactive UI, inspired by xHP, the HTML component library for PHP. React was created by Facebook in 2011 and then open-sourced in 2013.React is used to create dynamic, mobile apps, one-pages, visualization tools, and dashboards. Here are some of the most popular platforms and apps created with React: Facebook, Netflix, Atlassian, Airbnb, Dropbox, Reddit, etc.

Next.js vs React

Even in a sea of JavaScript frameworks and libraries, React and NextJS stand out. React is the most popular JavaScript library for frontend developers. NextJS, although smaller than React, has grown continuously over the years and is well on its way to becoming the most-used JavaScript framework. So, let’s compare React and Next.js. React – is a JavaScript library for building UI. Next.js – is the React framework. NextJS is used on top of React, extending its features and optimizing the development process: React doesn’t even have to work with NextJS, but NextJS uses React to deploy applications.

React has a special framework – Create React App, an application used to create React projects and includes tools such as Babel, Webpack, and ESlint. Next.js is a React-based framework that allows you to build applications with server-side rendering. React is still the core of the application, but the structure and navigation mechanisms (architecture) – are defined by Next.js. The difference between a framework and a library is that a framework has more features and focuses on several aspects of development, and gives you rules and guidelines for writing code and structuring files.

Next.js
React & Create React App (CPA)

Server-Side Rendering (SSR)
Supports different types of SSR.
– Static generation: obtaining data at build time. Best suited for use cases such as blogs or static websites.
– Server-side rendering: sampling data and rendering for each request. May be needed when you need to serve different views to different users.
Doesn’t support SSR out of the box. 
However, you can still set it up. 
It just takes more effort to configure SSR with your preferred server and configuration.

Configuration
Almost everything is configurable. 
If you check the example NextJs templates, you can see files like 
babelrc, jest.config, eslintrc etc. that you can configure.
Doesn’t leave you much space to configure it. 
Configurations, such as webpack config, cannot be changed unless you do not deviate from the usual CRA path (eject, rescripts, rewired, craco). 
You should use what is configured in 
react-scripts, which is the core of CRA.

Maintainability
Well maintained. Release regular updates.
Very sensitive. 
If you keep up with updates of CRA releases, it is not difficult to maintain.

TypeScript

Supports typescript out of the box. 
Configurations for TypeScript:
touch tsconfig.json

Supports. You can initialize the CRA app with typescript like this:
npx create-react-app my-app —template typescript

Hooks Support
Supports
Supports

Redux Support
Supports
Supports

Performance
Incredibly fast apps thanks to static sites and server-side rendering.
Decent, but the lack of code splitting results in poor performance.

Community
Tiny, but friendly
Both huge and friendly

Features
Support static exports, and pre-rendering, and has a lot of features, for example, automatic building size optimization, fast development compilation and preview mode.
Easily extensible, can include routing as well as management patterns with libraries.

Talent pool
Narrow
Broad

Easy to learn
Easy
Easy

Development costs
Low
Low

Which one is better?

It’s hard to say that one is better than the other. Remember, React.js is a JS library – a set of tools you can use to build UI – and Next.js is a framework – the blueprints and rules you need to build an entire app – based on React so it’s not a pick this one instead of the other situation.

Use React when:

You need a highly dynamic routing
You’re already familiar with JSX
You need offline support

Use Next.js when:

You need an all-inclusive framework
You require backend API endpoints
You need server-side rendering

What do React vs Next.js projects look like

React

You can get started with React by installing Node.js on your machine and running npx create-react-app react-app. This will create a basic project structure with the src/App.js file as the entry point for the application. You’ll also have a public folder where you can store assets, and the initial scaffold looks like this:

Next.js

With Next.js, you can get started by running npx create-next-app next-app. This will scaffold out a project that already has a pages folder for the pages or routes and a public directory that hosts your assets. The initial scaffold looks like this:

The files in the pages directory relate to routes in your application. The public directory stores your static files or images that you want to serve and can be directly accessed – no need to use require or other React traditional methods to import images into components.

Building Next.js and React projects with Flatlogic

The Flatlogic platform is a great way to bridge the gap between developing your applications. Applications usually use the same elements and components, when using the same technologies. The main thing that distinguishes them on a technical level is the database schema, which implements different data processing and storage mechanisms. The Flatlogic Platform allows you to create applications by combining parts and creating only those that need to be unique. Here you can see how to use the Flatlogic Platform to create Next.js, React applications, and other options for creating CRUD applications on the React. To generate your Next.js or React application, tap here and let’s go.

Step 1

Name your project and choose the tech stack: React as frontend and No-backend as backend.

Step 2

Choose the Starter Kit. Here you need to decide which starter kit is best for your project: Next.js or Create React App.

Next, you need to connect your GitHub repository and check the stack and starter kit and Finish the creation process.

Then you will be redirected to the project settings where you will need to deploy your application.

Conclusion

React and Next.js are new and useful tools for your project, but only for certain tasks. When you choose Next.js, it offers the best solutions for server-side rendering and static website development. It also makes it easy to manage projects with a variety of tools and features.

On the other hand, React is the best choice for developing UIs for one-page applications. Being mobile and web-enabled, it works with a layer of mobile and web applications to create more appealing and intuitive ones. In a nutshell, Next.js offers various tools and features to minimize the development process while React has better resources for the frontend development of your mobile and web applications.

Suggested Articles

What is Next.js? Top 7+ Next.js Templates
Angular vs React: Which One to Choose for Your Web App
Best Ways to Deploy React Apps

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React vs Vue: What to Choose in 2022?

Posted on by Mark Feehily0

React and Vue are the two most popular and widely used JavaScript frontend frameworks today. These frameworks allow developers to create a wide variety of web applications with JavaScript. Choosing between the two can be confusing if you are building a new application. Each has its own use case and serves different business needs. 

Most web developers prefer to use Vue.js and React frameworks. Using React or Vue.js provides a quality approach to web development that is consistent and performant. Both Vue and React have their own best scripts and meet different kinds of business needs.

In this article, we will learn about each and explore which is best suited for your business.

What is React?

React.js combines a high degree of concentration with simplicity when it comes to user experience. It was developed by Facebook as an open-source JavaScript library to help developers build user interfaces. React follows a declarative programming style and a component-based approach. It allows for the creation of complex web applications with the highest flexibility and speed. 

React.js is the most used web framework in 2021 with 40.14% of the software developers globally using React. 

React holds the top spot for the fourth year. Popular companies that are currently using React.js are AirBnB, Netflix, Instagram, and Udemy.

Source: https://2021.stateofjs.com/en-US/libraries/front-end-frameworks

What is Vue.js?

Vue.js is a progressive JavaScript framework that developers use to build interfaces. Unlike the Angular framework, Vue is incrementally adaptable by design. It scales easily between a library and a fully-featured framework. Companies using Vue.js include GitLab, Behance, Upwork, and Grammarly.

Here are a few Vue.js statistics: 

Vue.js is used by 0.8% of all the websites amongst JavaScript libraries.
Vue.js is used by 1.2% of all the websites amongst the JavaScript library we know and that rank in the top 1,000,000.
In 2021, 42% of the developers admitted that they used Vue in their company. 55% of the developers are of the view that Vue will get more popular in their organization. 

What are the Similarities between React and Vue?

Before looking at the differences between the two, let us look at some similarities. Both React and Vue possess component-based architecture. Also, both the frameworks are lightweight and have an exposure to lifecycle methods. Their performance is fairly similar. Both technologies work with any existing web application, even if it’s not a Single Page Application.

Below are some similarities:

They have composable and reactive view components
They use virtual DOM
JavaScript Code and PWA support
They concentrate on a core library. They also involve handling of routing and global state management with companion libraries
Possibility of working with any existing web applications
Both React and Vue have large proactive communities and plenty of libraries and tools available.

Comparison between React and Vue

You can pick one after knowing how they differ. The most obvious distinction: React is a library, whereas Vue is a framework.

Let us compare them taking into account some essential parameters. 

Data Binding 

Vue uses two-way data binding. It means whenever you change any interface element, your model state automatically changes with it. It may look simple to read about it. However, for a large project, it is not. If you want a good data overview and want easy debugging, you may prefer React as it has one-way data binding. After the model state is updated, React then renders the change in the interface element.

Desktop and Mobile Development 

React Native is the perfect platform for you if you want to build mobile apps that work on Android or iOS. Developers can use their existing skills to get started. The biggest advantage of using React is that you can reuse 99% of code between Android and iOS.

On the other hand, Vue does not have a dedicated platform like React Native. However, it does not mean you cannot develop native applications. Vue developers can use a cross-platform UI framework or plugins and write Vue applications and compile them into native apps – iOS and Android.

Major Differentiator – Syntax

One of the major differences between them is the way the view layer is built. Vue uses HTML templates by default, and there is no option to write in JavaScript Expressions (JSX). On the other hand, React solely uses JSX. Vue is easier to use even for beginner frontend developers as it uses only HTML. React’s JavaScript Expressions combine CSS and HTML into JavaScript. The XML-like syntax allows developers to create self-contained UI components with view-rendering instructions included.

Tooling

React provides third-party tools to help developers create React apps, and it allows them to speed up app development by adding scripts. Earlier, React developers had to copy the files from previous apps and configure everything from zero. It was not only time-consuming but a boring task that no developer liked doing. 

Vue, on the other hand, uses a tool called Vue CLI. It enables the user to create any project quickly. It comes with many benefits like easy improvements, adding plugins anytime during the project, etc.

Popularity

It is not easy to pick a winner on popularity, but if you check online communities, React wins this battle. It is mainly because it is backed by Facebook. The Vue community is smaller compared to React with fewer packages and resources. However, it is maintained by the creator himself – Evan You and his team.

Template and Styling

The UI library is incomplete without templates and styles. Additionally, they’re the places where the difference between React and Vue is most apparent, since the code design is different. The approaches both Vue and React take are also quite different.

While Vue has a more declarative approach, React is more functional. Since the logic and markup are both considered as one, they are mixed. It is accomplished with JSX, which is an abstraction of React.createElement, which is used to create Virtual DOM entities. 

Templates and styles are treated separately with Vue – a more conservative approach. Here, the templates are viewed as old-fashioned HTML elements.

Performance

If you want to make the decision of choosing anyone between Vue and React based on performance, you will not be able to since both frameworks have remarkable speed. However, as mentioned at the start, you can check for specific use cases to decide which is a better option for you.

Learn more about Vue.js Best Use Cases 

Vue has to be integrated into an existing project incrementally. This means there is a per project requirement since it is a progressive framework. For example, you can use Vue.js as a lightweight library to add some interactivity to a web app. Ease of integration is one of Vue’s top assets. 

You can hire Vue js developer to easily implement Vue.js into a project – it is a lot faster. The learning curve is easy, and tools like Vue UI and CLI make it a great tool to use for quick MVP delivery and start-up ideas. It is a cost-effective solution for all small to medium applications. However, it does not mean it is not good for large web apps. It has a vast ecosystem of tools and companion libraries, allowing the framework to respond to the complex needs of enterprise-grade applications.

Learn more about React.js Best Use Cases 

React was initially created for large-scale web projects, and hence using it for a small and simple app would not justify its usage. Setting up a project using React.js is not easy, and you need some level of expertise to do it, but its architecture ultimately pays off in the long run.

JSX is powerful, and it gives developers a range of powers – flow controls and advanced IDE features such as auto-completion or listing are included in the component view templates. React does not have official packages for routing or state management like Vue. If you are developing complex apps, you have to use third-party solutions in many places. It gives a range of choices to developers. If you have experienced developers, they will know better which libraries are optimum and can be used to meet the business demands of a particular web application.

Choose a framework/library according to your needs

React is a library, and hence the users gain more control, such as the manual re-rendering control. The library heavily utilizes functional programming principles, which is evident in how it handles state and communicates between components. On the contrary, Vue is a framework that brings to the table many more built-in features and companion libraries which come from the core team. Hence, this helps in making the development experience smoother for the user.

Both Vue and React are great tools for building interactive user interfaces. You cannot pick one randomly, you will need to take into account many factors like your business needs, developers’ experience, budget, timeframe to deliver the project, and much more. Performance-wise both are at par, and you won’t be disappointed in this aspect whether you choose React or Vue.

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Typescript vs. Javascript: The Key Differences You Should Know in 2022

Posted on by Mark Feehily0

Let’s start the battle TypeScript vs JavaScript with an introduction of both technologies. JavaScript is a scripting language, that was developed by EMCA’s Technical Committee and Brendan Eich. It works perfectly in web-browsers without the help of any web-server or a compiler. It allows you to change HTML and CSS in the browsers without a full page reload. That is why it is used to create dynamic and interactive web pages. 

TypeScript vs. JavaScript. A short comparison before we start

JS and TS – key differences
Type system
Compiler
Server-side / client-side
Declaration files
Size of projects
Salaries
IDE’s

Typescript vs. Javascript. A comparison table
So what to choose?
Typescript vs. JavaScript. Resume

TypeScript is a superset of the JavaScript language. It was presented and developed by Microsoft technical fellow Anders Hejlsberg in 2012. Typescript has appeared for a certain reason: the more JavaScript grew, the heavier and more unreadable js code became. It turned up especially evident when developers started to use JavaScript for server-side technologies.

TypeScript is an open-source language that has a compiler, that converts TypeScript code to JavaScript code (see TypeScript playground service). That compiler is cross-browser and also open-source. To start using TypeScript, you can rename your .js files to .ts files, and if there are no logical mistakes in the js code, you get valid TypeScript code. So, TypeScript code Is JavaScript code (and vice versa) just with some additions. To learn more about those additions, watch the original video presentation of TypeScript. Meanwhile, we discuss the key differences between JS and TS in 2022.   

TypeScript vs. JavaScript. A short comparison before we start

To be honest, almost nothing has changed in JavaScript and TypeScript technologies (and as a result in differences between them) for previous years. If you are already familiar with them, be calm because your knowledge is still up-to-date. 

And yet, there is one black swan that the world hasn’t faced before. It’s a coronavirus that made a shift not only in the technology sector but in the whole world. Companies went to remote working, economies have been isolated from each other for several months; some still do. That led to a disruption in the world value chain for hardware production. Even when factories will be reopened and deliveries will be resumed, it will take time to revive the production. It’s possible, that software becomes the growth catalyst for the technology sector in the coming time, and demand for software programmers will increase. We expect the growth both in small and large projects, so use any language: either JavaScript that is convenient for development not very complicated projects in small teams or TypeScript that is designed to work with large projects in huge teams from all over the world. 

And yet, JS and TS – key differences

Type system

The first important thing to speak about is a type system. JavaScript is dynamically typed. That means that technically you can do anything you want because JavaScript doesn’t know the type of a variable until the code is running. That leads to irritating bugs when you try to use the variables with wrong types for some commands. One of the instrument JavaScript offers to solve that problem is “use strict” mode that prevents you from using undeclared variables and throws an error for any assignment to a non-existing property/variable/object.  

For its part, TypeScript has a static typing. TypeScript type system offers you incredibly rich opportunities: interfaces, enums, hybrid types, generics, union/intersection types, access modifiers, and much more. And you are not allowed to use undeclared variables. 

Dynamic typing is more flexible by allowing programs to execute the code skipping some insignificant errors that static typing never allows. That decreases the development time, learning is easier in JavaScript, the amount of lines of the code is less. Nevertheless, dynamic typing may lead to errors we have mentioned. And since JavaScript tries to execute the code anyway despite the run-time errors, debugging becomes difficult. 

The advanced static type system of TypeScript helps to avoid such a situation, but cost you more time to set up a codebase with proper strict typing. However, one of the goals for the development of TypeScript was to help catch mistakes early and make development efficient. 

Compiler

JavaScript code doesn’t need to be compiled, while TypeScript code does. After code compilation TypeScript code becomes pure JavaScript, so it’s a development instrument first.

Server-side / client-side

Some people compare JavaScript and TypeScript in terms of their usage on client / server-side and claim that js has an advantage because it’s both client and server-side, while ts is not. From our point of view that is an incorrect comparison, because TypeScript code compiles to pure JavaScript that is both server and client-side. So here you shouldn’t worry about the differences.

Declaration files

The basic principle that needs to understand is that TypeScript basically stays very true to JavaScript type system and just allows you to statically describe what is going on in JavaScript. The purpose of declaration files is to define a semantic subset of JavaScript libraries and that makes sense. 

Let’s get on with it. 

Declaration files, if you’re not familiar with them, are just files with d.ts. extension that contains declarations of modules and namespaces, where a module is any file containing values, functions, or classes. And we speak exactly about declarations of them, not implementation. That files generated automatically by TypeScript compiler when you run your code through it. When TypeScript code is compiled, it becomes pure JavaScript code with all functions that the original code has. Sharing JavaScript code and a declaration file allows developers to use the original code without the presence of the original TypeScript code. In other words, declaration files help distribute js libraries. 

To learn more, you can clone the “DefinitelyTyped” repository from GitHub to get access to all popular libraries. When you need to use external script files in ts, you understand how convenient declaration files are.

Another feature that declaration files offer and that can be helpful is completion in your editor. That speeds up your development process and make coding easier. 

When the code is converted, JavaScript doesn’t use declaration files, so they need only to TypeScript compiler and your TypeScript code. 

Size of projects

TypeScript is a language that makes the code more consistent, clean, simple, and reusable. Thanks to static typing and declaration files TypeScript code is much easier to maintain and share. Also, TypeScript works great in bug prevention and helps to avoid spending time looking through code to find a silly mistake. So, it is better to use TypeScript for large projects.

Should you use TypeScript in all projects? No. 

You can’t debug TS code in a browser, but using JS you can. It is impossible to skip the compile step in TS (and the step takes time), in JS there is no need to wait. You can’t quickly write a code in TS because you need to declare everything, in JS you can write whatever code you want and it will work if there are no logical errors in it. We can say, that JavaScript is perfect for simple web applications, and that will stay true for much longer. 

Salaries

According to Stack Overflow, salaries for TypeScript and JavaScript developers are approximately the same both in the United States and all over the globe. In the United States companies pay TypeScript developers 120 thousand dollars a year, while they pay 8 thousand dollars less to JavaScript developers. Over the globe, these numbers are 57 and 53 thousand dollars respectively. 

IDE’s

TypeScript supports a lot of different IDEs, while JavaScript does not. For most developers that is a basic tool required to write and test the code, and refactoring becomes much easier as well. Using IDEs, you get intelligent code completion and error catch as you type that drastically speeds up the process of coding. The best and most popular IDEs are Visual Studio Code, WebStorm, Atom.  

Typescript vs. Javascript. A comparison table

TypeScript
JavaScript

Type system
Static typing
Dynamic typing

Compiler
Needs to be compiled
Doesn’t need to be compiled

Declaration files
Declaration files are used with TypeScript compiler and TypeScript code
JavaScript doesn’t use declaration files

Size of projects
It is better to use TypeScript for large projects
JavaScript is perfect for simple web applications

IDE’s
Supports a lot of different IDEs
Supports much less IDEs

So what to choose?

As a novice

You should definitely start with learning JavaScript. But when you learn the basics of that go to TypeScript. The biggest hurdle for TypeScript is the learning curve. Yeah, TypeScript offers a lot of useful tools to manage, share, debug, and write the code, but you need to know how that tools work to use them efficiently. Besides that, TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript, so you must know JS before starting to learn its more complicated roommate.  

As a middle developer

If you don’t know TypeScript but have a desire to work on more complicated projects, it’s time to learn TS. From the other side, if you are an experienced developer who is working on relatively small coding projects and in small teams, JavaScript is fine. Since salaries are almost equal, there is no financial reason to switch to TypeScript too. However, if you have knowledge, ideas, or need for team development, then Typescript becomes a more preferred option.  

As a senior developer 

Well, you have already known everything possible about JavaScript and TypeScript, and we guess that you have skills in them both. You do not need to choose any of them and the only thing you should know is that this year we don’t think anything will change in those technologies.  

Typescript vs. Javascript. Resume

JavaScript is an easy language to learn, while TypeScript has a tough learning curve and requires prior knowledge of scripting. Airbnb, Codeacademy, and Instagram are a few companies that use JavaScript, while TypeScript is used by Asana, Clever, Screen Awards, etc. TypeScript supports static typing, which allows you to type-check at compile-time, whereas JavaScript does not. The compiler significantly reduces the likelihood of “dumb” mistakes, such as missing commas and misspelled variable names, but it also kills the beauty of JS when most of the solutions could be written on their knees and tested in the browser console.

Strong typing of TypeScript allows you to more fully describe the properties and methods of objects and classes, which eliminates the need, which, for some developers, is very annoying, to check all arguments included in a method or function. This item works both for good and for bad because it is necessary to describe all types for all objects, classes, variables, which was not typical of JavaScript before.
It will be easier to read the code in TypeScript since there is no jumble of code typical of Javascript. But it should be noted that if you use abstractions can in JS, that greatly simplifies the perception of the code.

It should be noted that many are attracted by JavaScript. But as soon as they begin to study it, a kind of chaos and unpredictability of the language strikes the eye. If you prefer TypeScript, it is possible to transfer all your favorite libraries from JS to TS, if necessary. However, migration of existing popular JS solutions to TS requires labor costs. You see, for each ported lib it is necessary to describe the .d.ts file, which contains all the returned types and the description of all methods. Although porting monsters like jQuery, for example, took a lot more effort. So maybe this is not that much work after all. TypeScript currently has support in every popular IDE, including IDEA, WebStorm, Sublime, Atom, and so on. That is why you won’t have to change your favorite development environment.

Thanks for reading…

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