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An ideal Frontend Framework contains a suite of buttons and controls that facilitate seamless interaction with the database instances connected with the application. One of the essential features of a framework is modularity, which requires developers to only include components that are vital to the project.
One framework is preferred over the other because of the support it gets from a community of developers, and its ability to modularize and integrate a range of web development components. Seamless modularization and integration makes the framework future-proof and ensures a longer life from usability and commercial perspective.
Developers choose a framework that has a flexible number of styles for easy customization. It is not advisable to customize existing CSS with new rules; rather it is advised to choose a framework that fits into the rules.
Developers and project managers try new frameworks when developing new projects. They use a ‘mix-and-match’ approach; say smaller CSS styling from one, grid from second, and a theme from the third framework. According to a report, JavaScript is one of the fastest-growing languages that provide a number of frameworks for building highly scalable web and mobile apps. It has gone a long way from just being a language to a tool that can help create interactive web pages for efficient server-side development.
The top five Javascript front-end frameworks that have the potential to rule in 2018 are:
- AngularJS: AngularJS is a front-end framework that uses MVC architecture for single-page web application. The framework enables developers to extend HTML syntax for expressing underlying fragments of the application with greater code clarity.
Most progressive web applications are built around AngularJS due to its ability to translate and incorporate complex dependencies and business rules. The framework is strengthened with two-way binding, between ‘View’ and the ‘Model.’ The view reflects change when data in the corresponding model is modified and the data is modified in the model when the view changes dynamically.
- React.JS: React.JS is managed by a community of developers associated with Instagram, Facebook, and other social media corporations. It is essentially a JavaScript library that ensures scalability along with simplicity to come handy in building applications that render pages dynamically without the need to reload explicitly.
React enables the creation of components through JSX, similar to the markup language HTML. It changes portions of a user interface associated with a relevant application dynamically without manipulating other features or components. React was exclusively used as an in-house capability of Facebook before it became readily available as an open source platform.
- Vue.JS: Based on the innovative ideas for UI design, Vue is an open-source JavaScript framework. The latest and stable version of Vue.JS released in November 2017— Vue 2.5.9—is a light-weight, easy to learn framework that is compatible with other JavaScript libraries. It plays a crucial role in a large number of cross-platform projects and encourages UI development with hot-reloading and time-travel debug features associated with core library components.
Vue.JS is becoming popular due to its ability to reduce development times, deliver quicker debugging solutions, and replace the original template with a render function by JSX.
- Preact.JS: Apparently similar to React in terms of mode of execution, Preact is a speedier alternative, thanks to its ability to use the browser’s event listener. It is significantly lighter as compared to React, as it takes shortcuts and trims down the original React’s features. With a total size of 3 KB, Preact offers the same API and features as React and ensures that the developers do not have worry about the total size of the app.
Preact renders quickly, effectively uses memory, enables developers to understand codebase in a few hours, and is completely compatible with the React API. It supports all the browsers and has been adopted by the developer community as it embeds a number of plugins. Lyft, Housing.com, and Uber are some of the popular sites built around the Preact framework. Uber has written an article on Preact telling developers as to how and why Preact should be used to create mobile apps of minimal size.
- Ember.JS: An open source framework, Ember.js follows the Model–view–view-model (MVVM) pattern. It allows usage of best practices and incorporation of “developer ergonomics” into the framework, thereby facilitating single-page scalable web application with minimum code.
Ember can also be used to create desktop and mobile applications, though it is considered a web framework. Groupon, Linkedin, Live Nation, and Vine are some of the popular sites built around the Ember framework. Its build, workflow, and testing tools have evolved to behave and perform in a much innate manner. An advanced ‘view’ management feature ensures trashing of unused variables and bindings.
The Road Ahead
JavaScript will not cease in foreseeable times and will continue to be in the limelight by virtue of its support across principal browsers, apart from being the ideal choice for development of interactive web pages.
In the next post, I will elaborate on one more interesting topic, “Top 7 Back-end Development Frameworks in 2018.”
Stay tuned.
