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.

daff: align and compare tables

https://github.com/paulfitz/daff
1•indigodaddy•1m ago•0 comments

Show HN: BananaSlice – free Generative Fill alternative using Nano Banana

https://github.com/IrfanulM/BananaSlice
1•irfanul•2m ago•0 comments

Maestro Cross-Platform Desktop Agent Orchestrator (Free/OSS)

https://github.com/pedramamini/Maestro
1•pedramamini•12m ago•1 comments

Show HN: Ganttchart-webviz – Web-based Gantt chart generator

https://github.com/altilunium/ganttchart-webviz
1•altilunium•15m ago•0 comments

Flock Said It Does Not Use Dark Web Data. Code Analysis Tells a Different Story

https://nexanet.ai/blog/license-plate-reader-company-flock-said-it-does-not-use-dark-web-data-my-...
4•defrost•16m ago•0 comments

NitroGen: Unified vision-to-action model designed to play video games

https://huggingface.co/nvidia/NitroGen
1•intelkishan•23m ago•0 comments

Kebabs, biryani and more: Indian city on UNESCO culinary list

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyp8erjp82o
1•koolhead17•32m ago•1 comments

Seattle's Delivery Minimum Wage Failed Drivers and Raised Costs

https://reason.com/2025/12/20/seattles-delivery-minimum-wage-failed-drivers-and-raised-costs/
1•mhb•33m ago•0 comments

The Machine Stops [pdf]

https://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~koehl/Teaching/ECS188/PDF_files/Machine_stops.pdf
2•morpheos137•33m ago•0 comments

ModRetro announces Anduril-themed Gameboy Clone

https://modretro.com/products/anduril-chromatic-porta-pro-bundle
1•jscottmiller•33m ago•1 comments

Day 2 of Building ScrapeForge

1•Vishwas-Batra•34m ago•0 comments

TikTok Says Chinese Owner Will Retain Core US Business

https://www.ft.com/content/7a778d46-8bf8-4b11-af4e-5e5bd891cb9d
2•sarimkx•36m ago•1 comments

Performance trick: optimistic vs. pessimistic checks

https://lemire.me/blog/2025/12/20/performance-trick-optimistic-vs-pessimistic-checks/
1•tuananh•41m ago•0 comments

Marriott App Now Prompts You to Tip Staff – So Hotels Can Cut Wage Costs

https://viewfromthewing.com/marriott-app-now-prompts-you-to-tip-staff-so-hotels-can-cut-wage-costs/
9•cwwc•45m ago•3 comments

Luna NFC/RFID Poker Cards

https://electricks.info/product/luna-nfc-rfid-poker-cards/
1•gregsadetsky•45m ago•0 comments

How capacity hints work in Go

https://www.grobinson.net/2023/09/30/how-capacity-hints-work-in-go/
1•todsacerdoti•46m ago•0 comments

Wordiest: Android APK ported to iOS by ChatGPT 5.2

https://blog.fsck.com/2025/12/20/wordiest/
2•cpeterso•47m ago•0 comments

Disc-shaped satellite design offers unmatched power-to-weight ratio

https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/heres-why-nasa-and-the-space-force-are-interested-in-pizz...
1•walterbell•50m ago•0 comments

David Budden claims end-to-end Lean proof of Navier-Stokes

https://twitter.com/davidmbudden/status/2002474422431564247
3•delichon•52m ago•0 comments

Show HN: ArkhamMirror – CIA's Analysis of Competing Hypotheses, Runs in Browser

https://mantisfury.github.io/ArkhamMirror/ach/
3•ArkhamMirror•54m ago•0 comments

Configure Your Repositories with .github

https://cassidoo.co/post/dot-github/
1•weinzierl•54m ago•0 comments

Yann LeCun Raising €500M at €3B Valuation for New AI Startup

https://www.ft.com/content/d88729c0-c44f-4530-b888-bafa29ee0446
4•sarimkx•56m ago•1 comments

'Welcome In.' The Two-Word Greeting That's Taking over and Driving Shoppers Nuts

https://www.wsj.com/business/welcome-in-the-two-word-greeting-thats-taking-over-and-driving-shopp...
2•toomanyrichies•58m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Eze – AI co‑pilot that turns startup ideas into execution roadmaps

https://eze.lovable.app/
1•foolmarshal•59m ago•0 comments

Stem Cells from Wisdom Teeth Can Be Transformed into Corneal Cells (2015)

https://www.upmc.com/media/news/wisdom-teeth-stem-cells-corneal
1•walterbell•1h ago•0 comments

Show HN: Jx, a Terminal JSON Explorer

https://github.com/sqwxl/jx
1•sqwxl•1h ago•0 comments

I built a $5/month uptime monitor because existing tools felt like overkill

https://gositeowl.com
2•bytecovedev•1h ago•0 comments

Beyond the Signature: Why Access Control Is Crypto's Weakest Layer

https://paragraph.com/editor/ftJor1pQs1cbwgbTRpCH
2•TGSSecurity•1h ago•2 comments

No willpower required. Block distracting websites and apps during work sessions

https://github.com/sderosiaux/Refocus
1•chtefi•1h ago•0 comments

Starlink Satellite Is Tumbling Toward Earth After an Anomaly in Orbit

https://gizmodo.com/a-starlink-satellite-is-tumbling-toward-earth-after-a-strange-anomaly-in-orbi...
5•derbOac•1h ago•1 comments