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The Business Case for Vanilla JavaScript

https://lewiscampbell.tech/blog/250430.html
6•LAC-Tech•11mo ago

Comments

copypaper•11mo 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•11mo ago
What benefits of a framework?

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

proc0•11mo 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•11mo 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•11mo 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•11mo 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•11mo 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.

Eavesdropping on Satellite Internet: Trying the "Dontlookup" Code

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE7S1nk4F04
1•emsign•2m ago•0 comments

Anomalisa: Zero config anomaly detection with Welford's algorithm and a KV store

https://anomalisa.uriva.deno.net/
1•uriva•6m ago•0 comments

Release Management in the Agentic Era

https://medium.com/@taleodor/release-management-in-the-agentic-era-3e9eba4c0323
1•taleodor•7m ago•0 comments

How to Do an AX Audit

https://techstackups.com/articles/how-to-do-an-ax-audit/
2•mooreds•14m ago•0 comments

Company Orchestrator: The Last Job

https://sintem.co/essays/1/
1•sintem•17m ago•0 comments

AI and the Human Voice

https://gilest.org/notes/2026/human-ai/
2•avernet•24m ago•0 comments

Edalex Celebrates Double Recognition at 2026 EdTech Cool Tool Awards

https://www.edalex.com/news/edalex-rich-skill-descriptor-rsd-library-openrsd-integrated-new-muzzy...
1•edalex•26m ago•1 comments

Codex overtakes Claude Code to become #1 AI coding tool (April 2026)

https://ai-coding.info/en
3•kotauchisunsun•27m ago•0 comments

I wrote a WebAssembly plugin system for my Wayland compositor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kohl9wy3S7g
2•matthewkosarek•27m ago•0 comments

0x021 – Durable Workflows

https://unzip.dev/0x021-durable-workflows/
1•vismit2000•29m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: Deterministic codebase maps vs. LLM inferred knowledge graphs?

2•IxInfra•35m ago•1 comments

Ask HN: Why don't frontier AI model providers continuously improve their models?

1•jballanc•35m ago•1 comments

The brazen rightwing plan to conquer American schools

https://www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2026/apr/08/prageru-university-conservatism
9•jethronethro•39m ago•1 comments

Show HN: Ptoe.org

https://periodictableofelements.org/
1•nadermx•41m ago•0 comments

Giving LLMs a Formal Reasoning Engine for Code Analysis

https://yogthos.net/posts/2026-04-08-neurosymbolic-mcp.html
4•zdw•41m ago•0 comments

ServerCrate – Zero-knowledge Restic backup hosting, from $15/mo

https://servercrate.net/
1•rambooon•43m ago•0 comments

New PC Gaming Handheld Canceled Due to Soaring Storage Prices

https://kotaku.com/new-pc-gaming-handheld-would-have-to-cost-4000-because-of-storage-prices-so-it...
1•PaulHoule•44m ago•0 comments

Trump administration orders dismantling of the U.S. Forest Service

https://www.hatchmag.com/articles/trump-administration-orders-dismantling-us-forest-service/7716263
63•dxs•45m ago•10 comments

Show HN: A simple no bloat character checker

https://charchec.netlify.app/
1•xppexx•46m ago•0 comments

Bevy game development tutorials and in-depth resources

https://taintedcoders.com/
2•GenericCanadian•48m ago•0 comments

Newly created Polymarket accounts win big on well-timed Iran ceasefire bets

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/apr/08/polymarket-trump-us-iran-ceasefire
10•mitchbob•51m ago•0 comments

Japan lessens privacy laws to become "The easiest county to develop AI in"

https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/08/japan_privacy_law_changes_ai/
5•Muhammad523•52m ago•1 comments

You Can Just Print an Air Purifier

https://aftermath.site/3d-printing-air-purifier-corsi-rosenthal/
3•zdw•53m ago•0 comments

Show HN: BakaBags, a tsundere AI that roasts yours Solana wallets

https://bakabags.xyz
1•massanishi•53m ago•0 comments

Layoff Thinking

https://blogs.newardassociates.com/blog/2026/layoff-thinking.html
1•zdw•55m ago•0 comments

Interview: EmDash, a CMS built on Astro with sandboxed plugins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8QvgXe9z-A
1•emot•56m ago•0 comments

Show HN: LadderRank: Rank anything with ELO ratings

https://ladderrank.app/ladder/77DTlDNxd2dsbmAAMO7o8/vote
2•douglaswlance•1h ago•0 comments

Stanley Jordan's Two-Handed Technique [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldT6yTralvk
1•sbuttgereit•1h ago•0 comments

Account Verification for Windows Hardware Program Begins October 16, 2025

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/hardware-dev-center/action-required-account-verification...
3•TiredOfLife•1h ago•0 comments

Ask HN: Advice for college grads starting careers in the AI era?

1•LostMyLogin•1h ago•2 comments