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The Business Case for Vanilla JavaScript

https://lewiscampbell.tech/blog/250430.html
6•LAC-Tech•7mo ago

Comments

copypaper•7mo ago
I would personally never touch a frontend not written with a framework. Sounds like a terrible developer experience--especially with a team. But from reading your article, it sounds like your issue is with React itself. I would recommend you try Svelte, it sounds like what you're looking for. It's as close to vanilla js as you can get with all the benefits of a framework.
LAC-Tech•7mo ago
What benefits of a framework?

I think that's why I wrote this - I almost completely fail to see them.

proc0•7mo ago
I think React caved in to wider adoption pressure to introduce abstractions that are intuitive on the surface level but are costly in terms of large scale complexity.

> It's "declarative" right up until you're debugging stateful hooks, or resorting to useRef, or trying to reason about when a "component" re-renders

Maybe they should have modularized the core library more and have these things be separate, because the core idea of a uniflow pattern with reactivity is good.

I think what happened, at least in frontend, is that the industry pushed away from having engineers do any design or architecting on the frontend. All of these high level patterns have been "outsourced" to frameworks, and the result usually is something that has trouble scaling and adjusting to whatever domain it's in.

LAC-Tech•7mo ago
Maybe they should have modularized the core library more and have these things be separate, because the core idea of a uniflow pattern with reactivity is good.

That's what SolidJS does. IE the signal implementation is completely stand alone. I feel like it's better at doing what react purports to do then react is.

* think what happened, at least in frontend, is that the industry pushed away from having engineers do any design or architecting on the frontend. All of these high level patterns have been "outsourced" to frameworks*

I don't think react patterns are particularly high level, or do they save you from architecture. Whether it's vanilla JS or react, you still have to design.

proc0•7mo ago
Oh I haven't looked at Solidjs yet, interesting will take a look. And yeah you may still need to design your application, but having hooks be something that is out-of-the-box pushes you into certain patterns and needs to be actively ignored to avoid its design influence. I've worked in large codebases where they make almost everything into hooks, and they start getting ridiculous, breaking composability but at the same time giving the illusion that you are making your code more modular.
GianFabien•7mo ago
I write web front-ends for industrial embedded systems. So my experience might differ from business WebApps.

In my experience it requires a longer learning curve for the various frameworks than to simply learn the relevant Web API. My learning is very much JIT and over time I have built up a robust class library that gets my stuff done. When I get stuck ChatGPT suggests fixes that sometimes work and spare me from losing more hair.

LAC-Tech•7mo ago
My experience too - part of what I found is how much about how react worked I'd forgotten. But the browser itself was easier to pick up.

I built Pinpoint: a daily mini-game for discovering your city

https://imperfectionist.substack.com/p/how-i-built-pinpoint
1•bibekg•3m ago•0 comments

Show HN: CurioQuest – A simple web trivia/fun facts game

https://curioquest.fun/
1•curioquest•5m ago•0 comments

Antimatter Development Program

https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2025/11/26/antimatter-development-program/
1•surprisetalk•17m ago•0 comments

Just ten species make up almost half the weight of all wild mammals

https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammal-biomass-dominance
2•surprisetalk•17m ago•1 comments

When Was TidalCycles Born?

https://slab.org/2025/11/25/when-was-tidalcycles-born/
2•surprisetalk•18m ago•0 comments

It's Been a Hard Year

https://bell.bz/its-been-a-very-hard-year/
2•surprisetalk•18m ago•0 comments

What's Happening with Hypermode?

1•sthala•20m ago•0 comments

Google Antigravity Deletes D Drive

https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@bastardsheep@aus.social/115641546248437052
5•jay_kyburz•25m ago•3 comments

Upgrade a ThinkPad 701c in 2023. (2023)

https://old.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/185y4m6/upgrade_a_thinkpad_701c_in_2023/
1•mitthrowaway2•30m ago•0 comments

The Hierarchy of Work Complexity Is Inescapable (Even at Buurtzorg)

https://synexia.substack.com/p/the-hierarchy-of-work-is-inescapable
1•asplake•33m ago•0 comments

Linux 6.18 Released

https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/CAHk-=whnC+hRftevTLeVs3tyyqwn+7un=jUES2-WX+pZhDdKNw@mail.gmail.com/T/#u
6•jrepinc•42m ago•1 comments

Arch Linux-based EndeavourOS releases Ganymede

https://endeavouros.com/news/the-long-wait-is-over-ganymede-has-arrived/
2•jrepinc•44m ago•0 comments

Show HN: BirdWrite – The AI Engine for World-Class Content

https://birdwrite.vercel.app/
1•devanimecx•46m ago•0 comments

TSMC Overseas Fabs – A Success?

https://newsletter.semianalysis.com/p/tsmc-overseas-fabs-a-success
1•emschwartz•47m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Tera.fm – Listen to Hacker News instead of reading it

https://tera.fm/
2•digi_wares•50m ago•1 comments

SmartTube Compromised

https://www.aftvnews.com/smarttubes-official-apk-was-compromised-with-malware-what-you-should-do-...
3•akersten•53m ago•0 comments

A speculative framework for thinking about civilization resolution in the AI era

https://ontomesh.org/civilization-resolution-png-era.html
2•nettalk83•54m ago•1 comments

Waymo Has a Charging Problem

https://insideevs.com/news/780391/waymo-charging-depot-santa-monica/
1•voxadam•57m ago•1 comments

'A full-blown crisis': Americans brace for a surge in healthcare costs

https://www.ft.com/content/beec76df-8e6d-4238-bae2-e51683b62aa4
75•mmarian•1h ago•81 comments

DeLorean Time Travel Engine: Software Anatomy of the 1885 Bug

https://medium.com/@muhammetus/delorean-time-travel-engine-software-anatomy-of-the-1885-bug-0a2f5...
1•thunderbong•1h ago•0 comments

Show HN: Notionfile – Notion templates designed to reduce founder friction

https://notionfile.com
1•tuhel•1h ago•0 comments

Time's up for Rolex? British watchmakers challenge Swiss dominance

https://www.thetimes.com/world/middle-east/article/britain-watch-manufacturing-dubai-bjx06jdmc
2•petethomas•1h ago•1 comments

Stacked Diffs with git rebase —onto

https://dineshpandiyan.com/blog/stacked-diffs-with-rebase-onto/
1•flexdinesh•1h ago•0 comments

Wispr Flow raised $81M for this. I open-sourced it: jarvis.ceo (free forever)

https://github.com/akshayaggarwal99/jarvis-ai-assistant
2•imaka•1h ago•2 comments

Carbon costs of different pathways for reducing fire hazard in the Sierra Nevada

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eap.70111
1•PaulHoule•1h ago•0 comments

Fancy lion's mane in your latte? The rise of mushroom coffee

https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/food-drink/article/mushrooms-collagen-functional-coffee-g8t03...
2•petethomas•1h ago•0 comments

The lab where Carlsberg is brewing beers of the future

https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/food-drink/article/inside-lab-carlsberg-beers-future-7kzgsfvzz
1•petethomas•1h ago•0 comments

Dookie.nvim: A color scheme inspired by Plan9's acme editor

https://github.com/pebeto/dookie.nvim
1•joseesparza•1h ago•0 comments

Google Antigravity just deleted the contents of whole drive

https://old.reddit.com/r/google_antigravity/comments/1p82or6/google_antigravity_just_deleted_the_...
14•tamnd•1h ago•3 comments

AI helps drive record $11.8B in Black Friday online spending

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/us-consumers-spent-118-billion-black-friday-says...
1•TMWNN•1h ago•1 comments