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The Business Case for Vanilla JavaScript

https://lewiscampbell.tech/blog/250430.html
6•LAC-Tech•1y ago

Comments

copypaper•1y 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•1y ago
What benefits of a framework?

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

proc0•1y 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•1y 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•1y 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•1y 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•1y 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.

Musk explains why Tesla Robotaxi is not running at night, & Lidar is the answer

https://electrek.co/2026/10/03/tesla-robotaxi-pets-night-musk-lidar/
1•FabHK•5m ago•0 comments

Handfasting

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handfasting
1•thunderbong•6m ago•0 comments

Show HN: A Hotspot-Inspired Common Lisp for Linux/Windows/Android

https://github.com/atgreen/evergreen
1•atgreen•6m ago•0 comments

System One models like Jev can train their own replacements

https://www.seangoedecke.com/system-one-models-can-train-their-own-replacements/
1•gfysfm•7m ago•0 comments

Abstract Semantics of Machine Realizations

https://machine-semantics.grok.me
1•measurablefunc•8m ago•0 comments

Military AI and autonomous systems: views in The Strategist

https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/military-ai-and-autonomous-systems-views-in-the-strategist/
1•snarky-comments•9m ago•0 comments

First probe monitors fetal health in utero during surgery

https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2026/01/first-of-its-kind-probe-monitors-fetal-health-in-ut...
2•wglb•12m ago•0 comments

Hacking the Go compiler to efficiently map IPv4 to IPv6

https://vincent.bernat.ch/en/blog/2026-go-netip-addrto6
2•stock_toaster•17m ago•1 comments

Legal risks pile up for Altman as OpenAI uncovers hacks

https://www.ft.com/content/2c24ece3-ac99-43a8-b0e6-4a3867e37ebf
5•JumpCrisscross•30m ago•1 comments

What's Going on with Restaurant Wine Pricing?

https://www.wineenthusiast.com/culture/podcasts/wine-enthusiast-podcast/restaurant-wine-pricing/?...
1•brandonb•31m ago•0 comments

Beyond Information Asymmetry: The Changing Nature of Medical Expertise

https://www.jacc.org/doi/epdf/10.1016/j.jacc.2026.08.018
1•brandonb•33m ago•0 comments

Harbinger Receives Binding Order for 2k Electric Trucks from FedEx

https://harbingermotors.com/newsroom/fedex-orders-2000-harbinger-electric-trucks/
1•JumpCrisscross•33m ago•1 comments

Can AI run an family/organization if so for who?

https://cahootzcommons.com/blog/ai-can-run-an-organization-its-members-must-decide-who-the-organi...
1•DeonRob•35m ago•2 comments

If it hurts, do it more

https://jnsgr.uk/2026/09/if-it-hurts-do-it-more
2•aray07•35m ago•0 comments

The 15-year search for a band that charted once and vanished

https://shahidhussain.com/writing/search-for-salvage/
3•shahidhussain•41m ago•0 comments

1 in 8 cancer cases are caused by infections

https://www.livescience.com/health/cancer/1-in-8-cancer-cases-are-caused-by-infections-underscori...
18•bookofjoe•44m ago•4 comments

Show HN: The Poteto Frontier for AI Agents

https://poteto-frontier.vercel.app/
1•transitivebs•45m ago•0 comments

Milt Windler, NASA flight director who helped save Apollo 13, dies at 94

https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/10/milt-windler-nasa-flight-director-who-helped-save-apollo-13...
3•pseudolus•46m ago•0 comments

Desulforudis Audaxviator: radiotrophic bacterium kms below the surface

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desulforudis_audaxviator
2•hdivider•51m ago•0 comments

Orbital Sunrise

https://orbitalsunrise.cc/
1•qiqing•53m ago•0 comments

US removes all Air Force bombers from UK base following new threat

https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/04/politics/us-air-force-bombers-removed-fairford-iran
3•Bender•56m ago•0 comments

Open Source Instinct

https://github.com/mariagorskikh/open-instinct
1•mariagorskikh•59m ago•1 comments

Teen suspected of running KillSec ransomware group as cops seize servers

https://www.theregister.com/cyber-crime/2026/10/02/teen-suspected-of-running-killsec-ransomware-g...
2•Bender•59m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Digital scarcity; app where photos gradually decay with time / views

https://joinfaded.com/
1•dreadsword•1h ago•1 comments

Linux 7.3-Rc6 Released: Normal for the New "AI Normal"

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-7.3-rc6-Released
2•Bender•1h ago•0 comments

Astronaut back on Earth – forgets about gravity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVxaL8CAO4M
3•lifeisstillgood•1h ago•0 comments

Radio signal detected for the first time from a planet outside our solar system

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/1736845/radio-signal-detected-for-the-first-time-from-a-planet-o...
5•billybuckwheat•1h ago•1 comments

A priors-based argument for psychadelic skepticism

https://www.technotheoria.org/p/a-priors-based-argument-for-psychadelic
3•paulpauper•1h ago•1 comments

Study of 2.5M children finds no link between MMR vaccine and autism

https://www.psypost.org/study-of-2-5-million-children-finds-no-link-between-mmr-vaccine-and-autism/
3•downbad_•1h ago•0 comments

OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra Gets Frustrated Losing at StarCraft and Decides to Cheat

https://kotaku.com/openais-gpt-6-astra-gets-frustrated-losing-at-starcraft-and-decides-to-cheat-i...
5•doener•1h ago•1 comments