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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.

The Work Behind the Writing: On Writers and Their Day Jobs

https://lithub.com/the-work-behind-the-writing-on-writers-and-their-day-jobs/
1•simplegeek•3m ago•0 comments

Newpress.com is a community driven journalism platform

https://newpress.com
1•nerder92•4m ago•1 comments

Half the AI Agent Market Is One Category. The Rest Is Wide Open

https://garryslist.org/posts/half-the-ai-agent-market-is-one-category-the-rest-is-wide-open
1•mellosouls•4m ago•0 comments

Scheme on Java on Common Lisp

https://github.com/atgreen/cl-kawa
1•varjag•4m ago•0 comments

Online Deception in Social Media (2014)

https://cacm.acm.org/research/online-deception-in-social-media/
1•rramadass•7m ago•0 comments

Porkbun sells out – Starts requiring Age ID despite no legal requirement

https://kb.porkbun.com/article/225-why-porkbun-id-verification
2•evolve2k•9m ago•1 comments

GenLoop–AI that trains generations of humans instead of growing data centers

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17XDU9D7uRS1P7U0VRlI0Yogt3eiDG6QysYc7ROHwJoc/edit?usp=drivesdk
1•LAKSzero-I•13m ago•1 comments

Show HN: Databasus v3.16.0 – new release of self-hosted PostgreSQL backup tool

https://github.com/databasus/databasus
1•rostislav_dugin•14m ago•0 comments

California tried to protect students' data. Tech companies found loopholes

https://themarkup.org/artificial-intelligence/2026/02/21/california-tried-to-protect-students-dat...
1•giuliomagnifico•19m ago•0 comments

Suspect in Tumbler Ridge school shooting described violent scenarios to ChatGPT

https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/882814/tumbler-ridge-school-shooting-chatgpt
1•saikatsg•19m ago•0 comments

Postgres Is Your Friend. ORM Is Not

https://hypha.pub/postgres-is-your-friend-orm-is-not
2•MYEUHD•20m ago•1 comments

Linux 7.0 Makes Preparations For Rust 1.95

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-7.0-Rust-1.95-Prep
1•tenpa0000•20m ago•0 comments

Xbox chief Phil Spencer is leaving Microsoft

https://www.theverge.com/news/882241/microsoft-phil-spencer-xbox-leaving-retirement
1•saikatsg•21m ago•0 comments

Running RISC-V in a VM to test my snaps

https://blog.popey.com/2026/02/running-risc-v-in-a-vm-to-test-my-snaps/
2•jandeboevrie•22m ago•0 comments

Show HN: TurboStitchGIF GIF decoder that lets you choose: safety or speed

1•DenisDolya•22m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Electron IPC Bridge- Auto-generated type-safety without the boilerplate

https://metacurb.github.io/electron-ipc-bridge/
1•StrangeSound•23m ago•0 comments

How the NYT Made Its Tiny, Animated Olympic Athletes

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/20/insider/winter-olympics-little-athletes.html
1•pedrosbmartins•24m ago•0 comments

Psychedelics For Your Software Engineers

https://nearshoreamericas.com/psychedelics-for-your-software-team-leaders-weight-in/
1•sleepycal•24m ago•0 comments

Fedify 2.0.0: Modular architecture, debug dashboard, and relay support

https://github.com/fedify-dev/fedify/discussions/580
3•dahlia•27m ago•0 comments

Amazon's tax bill plunges after GOP tax cuts

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/06/amazon-emerges-a-big-winner-from-gop-tax-cuts-00768985
1•ceejayoz•27m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Persona AI – A decision engine that outputs binary verdicts, not chat

https://personai.fun
1•kmish9685•28m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Can you beat an AI at "being human" using one word?

https://turingduel.com/
1•jacob_indie•35m ago•1 comments

ESLint Rules Index

https://eslint-rules-index.vercel.app/
1•EmanueleMinotto•36m ago•0 comments

OpenClaw Partners with VirusTotal for Skill Security

https://openclaw.ai/blog/virustotal-partnership
1•sheikhsakib•40m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Reflekt – free, unbranded in-app surveys for mobile apps

https://www.usereflekt.com
1•noahSchenk_•44m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Landing page for a before/after proof-of-work app; feedback wanted

https://yourbeforeafterwork.netlify.app/
1•sudeshss•44m ago•0 comments

Building personal software is now Practical

https://divanv.com/post/age-of-personal-software/
4•divanvisagie•46m ago•1 comments

Hacking Tauri for Designer

https://yujonglee.com/blog/hacking-tauri-for-designer/
1•yujonglee•49m ago•0 comments

Why every automaker is quietly bringing back the inline-six engine

https://carbuzz.com/why-automakers-bringing-back-the-inline-six-engine/
1•teleforce•50m ago•0 comments

Oracle Solaris 11.4 SRU90 released

https://www.osnews.com/story/144465/oracle-solaris-11-4-sru90-released/
2•ksec•52m ago•0 comments