It has been 10 years since Facebook developer Christopher Chedeau first presented the new JavaScript framework ‘React’.
This really captured the imagination of developers and entrepreneurs alike, with React a view-oriented and high-performance tool that brought numerous advantages to various applications.
Since its launch in 2014, React has gone on to become arguably the most dominant frontend development tool. But is React’s dominance coming to an end, and if so, why exactly may this be the case?
Getting Started – The Benefits of Developing with React
Whenever you visit https://www.20.codes/en/registration/ or similar sites, the chances are that the frontend functionality has been powered by React. This framework is certainly dominant across a range of markets and applications, but what are the core advantages that it offers?
- It’s Now Simple and Easy to Learn: One of the initial criticisms of React is that its learning curve was once too steep for developers. However, it has since inspired a new generation of alternative front end development tools since 2014, many of which have cut their teeth by learning or imitating React directly. So, it’s now relatively much easier to learn and simple to apply, creating value across a number of different applications.
- React Supports Both Android and iOS Platforms: This may sound minor, but the fact that React is compatible with both Android and iOS platforms is a huge boon. Similarly, development teams can migrate an existing app in React with the minimum of fuss, especially when you consider its view-oriented and user-friendly nature.
- It Delivers Demonstrably Fast Updates: Another key benefit of the React framework is that it delivers relatively fast updates with both server-side and frontend support. From a broader perspective, the framework also supports the so-called “React Native” library, which ensures efficient and consistent performance across the board!
React’s Growth and its Future – What Lies Ahead?
From a technical perspective, one of the key reasons behind React’s growth and sustained dominance is the development of a ‘virtual DOM’. The stands for Document Object Model, which is an object-oriented representation of an HTML document and provides an interaction between JavaScript and the corporeal doc.
This effectively creates two virtual copies of the DOM, enabling you to run a “diffing” process that clearly outlines precisely what has been changed. Amendments are then applied automatically by React to the document, so only the necessary segments of a webpage must be rendered and re-rendered for users.
The question that remains, of course, is whether the framework’s dominance is approaching an end?Notwithstanding its DOM and negation of template usage, it has always drawn a number of complaints, while there are now several viable frontend alternatives to React that have sought to improve on the existing offering.
There are also options like Astro or Svelte, which eschew the virtual DOM approach and allow developers to select frameworks that don’t rely on React. Microsoft Edge is also exercising an HTML-first approach, which negates the need for React’s frontend framework too.
Ultimately, there’s no doubt that React remains one of the most popular frontend JavaScript frameworks around. However, it’s no longer as dominant as it once was, and it will continue to face serious challenges as the technological landscape continues to evolve.
