Once used only in browsers to build interactive web pages, JavaScript now allows building front-end of web and mobile applications, as well as real-time networking apps and games. Due to investments by giants like Facebook and Google, JavaScript is growing faster than any other language, and by the end of 2021 has gained its all-time highest worldwide market share of 9.2%. For instance, Netflix and Paypal built their applications around JavaScript solely.
There are numerous JS frameworks, aimed to ease and fasten development, and the top-3 for years now are React, Vue and Angular. Let’s take a quick look into each technology.
Angular is beneficial for huge teams
It was released by Google in 2011, and the first edition named AngularJs was pretty slow and inconvenient. The framework had a few radical updates, lost the letters and numbers in its name, yet gained a massive amount of fans among the developers.
Angular is component-based and has a strictly organized structure. What does it say to a business owner? It takes time to arrange all the elements the way the framework requires, therefore the delivery time may be longer than those with React and Vue. On the other hand, this approach is beneficial for enterprise applications.
When a big team of developers works on a project simultaneously, the chances to mess things up are high. Angular’s approach states the rules to prevent this mess, and even the junior’s code is clear and comprehensive.
React.js gets extra points through React Native
React.js is the library, responsible for building user interfaces on JavaScript, it was open-sourced by Facebook in 2013. It is flexible, scalable, fast and easily integrated into big projects with a variable stack of technologies.
Facebook uses React extensively in all its services like Facebook and Instagram. Therefore it is constantly updated and supported by a large community.
We usually use it for applications with frequently updated UI. It is fast and easy to change data on React.Js due to a Virtual DOM, since it refreshes only the parts of the pages that changed but not the whole page.
React Native adds extra points to React.js if the project needs mobile app development.
I love React, cause it gives freedom. There are no strict rules as in Vue and Angular. Although with freedom comes the responsibility to take care of the code clarity.
Stanislav Volnyansky, Tech lead at Kultprosvet
Vue.js took the best from Angular and React
Although it doesn’t have the backing of a big company, Vue became quite popular over the last years. Why? Because its learning curve and development speed are impressively fast. According to Evan You’s interviews, he was struggling to create UI interfaces fast and created a framework, that took the best from Angular and React and left the worth behind.
Vue is component-based and well-organized, therefore the code is clear even if the developer is green as grass. It has a Virtual DOM, which updates only the parts of the elements that have been changed, boosting the speed and performance. The documentation is clear, the community is big and devoted, the integration to the projects of any scale and stack of technologies is smooth.
The front-end of our website is built on Vue, as well as Behance, 9gag, Gitlab and Laravel. The development speed is remarkable, way faster than React and Angular (especially, Angular!)
Klim Trakht, CTO at Kultprosvet
Vue is highly praised by Tylor Otwell, the creator of the Laravel, the most popular PHP framework. PHP developers often choose Vue for the front-end as it comes out of the box.
In conclusion
All of the frameworks do a good job in terms of delivery time and performance, devoted community and versatility of the use-cases. The comparison basically comes to the personal preferences of the developers’ team. The same old song of the cooks praising their broths.
The latest workforce market stats show, that developers prefer React and Vue to Angular, yet we have fans of each technology at the Kultprosvet team. Feel free to contact us and ask for opinions!