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The Business Case for Vanilla JavaScript

https://lewiscampbell.tech/blog/250430.html
6•LAC-Tech•9mo ago

Comments

copypaper•9mo 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•9mo ago
What benefits of a framework?

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

proc0•9mo 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•9mo 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•9mo 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•9mo 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•9mo 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.

Don't read this Startup Slop

https://steipete.me/posts/2025/startup-slop
1•kordlessagain•13s ago•0 comments

Friend.com – An AI necklace that listens to you

https://friend.com
1•cpa•46s ago•0 comments

English professors double down on requiring printed copies of readings

https://yaledailynews.com/articles/english-professors-double-down-on-requiring-printed-copies-of-...
1•cmsefton•1m ago•0 comments

Guidance to administrators on fail rate in medical robotics

1•__patchbit__•6m ago•0 comments

RCFs to READMEs

https://h3manth.com/scribe/rfcs-vs-readmes/
1•init0•7m ago•1 comments

The difference between onshore and offshore RMB (CNY and CNH)

https://corporate.visa.com/en/products/visa-direct/blog/the-difference-between-cny-and-cnh.html
1•sokols•8m ago•0 comments

Open-source TypeScript fitness calculator library (BMI, TDEE, 1RM, macros, etc.)

https://github.com/finegym-io/fitness-calc
1•vedadburgic•9m ago•1 comments

Malleable Software

https://blog.cemunalan.com.tr/2026/02/01/malleable-software/
1•raicem•12m ago•0 comments

The Hardest Bugs Exist Only in Organizational Charts

https://techyall.com/blog/the-hardest-bugs-exist-only-in-organizational-charts
2•birdculture•13m ago•0 comments

Fumadocs MCP

https://github.com/k4cper-g/fumadocs-mcp
1•k4cper-g•15m ago•0 comments

OpenClaw proves agentic AI works. It also proves your security model doesn't

https://venturebeat.com/security/openclaw-agentic-ai-security-risk-ciso-guide
1•speckx•15m ago•0 comments

Programming Patterns: The Story of the Jacquard Loom

https://www.scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/jacquard-loom
1•andsoitis•16m ago•0 comments

Pikchr: A markup language for diagrams in technical documentation

https://pikchr.org/home/pikchrshow
2•mci•16m ago•0 comments

Early 20th Century Tourist Maps of Japan

https://www.presentandcorrect.com/blogs/blog/paper-trails
2•bookofjoe•17m ago•0 comments

A gallery of early computers, 1940s – 1960s

https://royal.pingdom.com/retro-delight-gallery-of-early-computers-1940s-1960s/
1•fanf2•17m ago•1 comments

Wrapping Linux Syscalls in C

https://t-cadet.github.io/programming-wisdom/#2026-01-31-wrapping-linux-syscalls-in-c
1•phi-system•18m ago•0 comments

The (Overdue) Collapse of the Most Overhyped Company [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voh9JSRYrEI
1•kklisura•19m ago•0 comments

The Disconnected Git Workflow

https://ploum.net/2026-01-31-offline-git-send-email.html
1•iamnothere•19m ago•0 comments

Over half of American adults can't read at 6th Grade Levels

https://moneywise.com/news/more-us-students-are-arriving-at-college-unprepared-to-read
2•laurex•20m ago•2 comments

Converting Floats to Strings Quickly

https://lemire.me/blog/2026/02/01/converting-floats-to-strings-quickly/
1•usdogu•21m ago•0 comments

GPUs Became the Newest Financial Asset

https://davefriedman.substack.com/p/how-gpus-became-the-newest-financial
1•gmays•26m ago•1 comments

Claude Biodome

https://autoncorp.com/biodome/
1•surprisetalk•26m ago•1 comments

Switch off quick-start in your TV settings

https://practicalbetterments.com/switch-off-quick-start-in-your-tv-settings/
1•surprisetalk•26m ago•1 comments

The AI coding agent audit trail tool

https://github.com/safedep/gryph
2•knlsn•27m ago•1 comments

The Evidence: A Record of Observed Behaviour in External AI Systems

https://zenodo.org/records/18449936
1•businessmate•28m ago•1 comments

Show HN: Mailient – AI email assistant for founders (built by 14yo)

1•mailient•31m ago•1 comments

A Tale of Repairing Three Steam Generator Irons

https://universaldiscoverymethodology.com/2025/01/01/a-tale-of-repairing-three-steam-generator-ir...
1•airhangerf15•31m ago•0 comments

Building a highly accurate digital twin of the Earth

https://destination-earth.eu/
1•geox•31m ago•0 comments

Moltbook: Everything You Need to Know

https://read.noticethenuance.com/p/moltbook-everything-you-need-to-know
1•Sherveen•31m ago•0 comments

Why aren't we using SSH for everything? (2015)

https://shazow.net/posts/ssh-how-does-it-even/
4•thunderbong•34m ago•0 comments