frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Made with ♥ by @iamnishanth

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

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.

How much of "Mississippi's education miracle" is an artifact of selection bias?

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/12/01/how-much-of-mississippis-education-miracle-is-a...
1•Anon84•3m ago•0 comments

3D printed titanium Apple Watch cases

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/11/mapping-the-future-with-3d-printed-titanium-apple-watch-ca...
1•ndr42•3m ago•0 comments

Jonbar Hinge

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonbar_hinge
1•surprisetalk•4m ago•0 comments

You've (Likely) Been Playing the Game of Life Wrong [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBluLfX2F_k
1•surprisetalk•4m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Roampal – a local memory layer that learns from outcomes

https://github.com/roampal-ai/roampal
1•roampal•5m ago•0 comments

In the Shadow of Jane Street and Citadel Securities, Hudson River Mints Billions

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-12-01/high-speed-trader-hudson-river-steps-up-battle...
1•petethomas•5m ago•0 comments

Anthropic: AI agents find $4.6M in blockchain smart contract exploits

https://red.anthropic.com/2025/smart-contracts/
3•bpierre•6m ago•0 comments

Costco Joins Companies Suing for Refunds If Tariffs Fall

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-01/costco-joins-companies-suing-for-refunds-if-tr...
2•petethomas•7m ago•0 comments

After another failure, this Russian ICBM is "unique" in its unreliability

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/the-missile-meant-to-strike-fear-in-russias-enemies-fails-o...
2•doener•8m ago•0 comments

The Devil's Plan to Ruin the Next Generation

https://www.afterbabel.com/p/the-devils-plan-to-ruin-the-next
2•jdkee•8m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Simweb is a discrete-event simulation for web processes

https://github.com/yunier-rojas/simweb
1•yunier-rojas•8m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: What alternatives to Docker Desktop are people using?

1•prdonahue•8m ago•0 comments

Complex end-to-end tests using Guix G-expressions

https://systemreboot.net/post/complex-end-to-end-tests-using-guix-g-expressions.html
1•todsacerdoti•10m ago•0 comments

Isabel Allende wrote her first novel almost by accident [video]

https://www.bbc.com/video/bbc-maestro/isabel-allende
1•nhatcher•11m ago•0 comments

The College Students Who Can't Do Elementary Math

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-college-students-who-cant-do-elementary-math-2db5e549
3•cypherpunks01•15m ago•1 comments

What You See Is What It Does: A Structural Pattern for Legible Software

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3759429.3762628
1•PaulHoule•17m ago•0 comments

Yamada to sell 'human washing machine' after expo popularity

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2025/11/27/companies/yamada-human-washing-machine-sale/
1•doener•18m ago•1 comments

Bluefox NX1 User Review

https://old.reddit.com/r/smallphones/comments/1pbimn2/bluefox_nx1_review/
1•maelito•20m ago•0 comments

MSTR Establishes $1.44B Cash Reserve, Slashes 2025 Profit, BTC Yield Targets

https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/12/01/strategy-establishes-usd1-44b-cash-reserve-slashes-20...
2•donsupreme•20m ago•0 comments

Today in History: December 1, Rosa Parks refuses to give up bus seat

https://apnews.com/today-in-history/december-1
1•petethomas•21m ago•0 comments

Show HN: MCP Traffic Analyze with NPM

https://www.npmjs.com/package/@mcp-shark/mcp-shark
11•o4isec•23m ago•0 comments

Setting a wallpaper with less than 250 Kb

https://www.lgfae.com/posts/2025-11-21-SettingAWallpaperWithLessThan250KB.html
1•birdculture•24m ago•0 comments

Hack Club strikes a promotion deal with Hacker News

1•Agreed3750•27m ago•0 comments

Novelty Automation: A collection of satirical home-made arcade machines

https://novelty-automation.com/
2•nanomonkey•29m ago•1 comments

Perfetto – Open Souce System profiling, app tracing and trace analysis by Google

https://github.com/google/perfetto
1•gpi•31m ago•0 comments

Busy day? Never miss a meeting

https://meeting-alarm.com/
1•AdamMyers17•37m ago•1 comments

Has anyone heard of the W Windowing System?

1•danceitbreakit•39m ago•0 comments

Buildkite CLI Homepage

https://buildkite.com/
3•woolywonder•39m ago•1 comments

AI Advent Calendar, vibe coded in 3 prompts

https://ai-creative-advent-calendar-b4ef04f6.base44.app/
2•astonfred•42m ago•0 comments

Vibe CADing an Interactive Data Physicalization

https://nicolas.kruchten.com/content/2025/11/vibe-cading-a-data-physicalization/
1•nicolaskruchten•44m ago•0 comments