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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.

AI as a part of capitalism – the right way to go

1•sedan_baklazhan•1m ago•0 comments

Endgame: Singularity

https://www.emhsoft.com/singularity/
1•knuckleheads•7m ago•0 comments

US company announces progress toward resurrecting the extinct dodo

https://www.reuters.com/science/us-company-announces-progress-toward-resurrecting-extinct-dodo-20...
1•EvgeniyZh•10m ago•0 comments

Tim Cook Says Apple Intelligence Approved in China, the Paper Reports

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/tim-cook-says-apple-intelligence-approved-china-...
1•snikolaev•11m ago•0 comments

AI is driving a boom in modestly successful software projects

https://www.seangoedecke.com/ai-is-driving-a-boom-in-modestly-successful-software/
1•GeneralMaximus•12m ago•1 comments

Pornography showing strangulation and incest to be banned in UK from November

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/oct/16/pornography-strangulation-incest-ban-uk-november
2•throw310822•13m ago•0 comments

MoonPage: Cozy Bedtime Stories

https://moonpageapp.com/
1•hao313131•14m ago•0 comments

Tesla Roadster

https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1yKAPwNggRaxb
4•tosh•14m ago•0 comments

Haxy.net is live – HAXY (Git forge) devlog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89yAiqYEwKg
1•birdculture•18m ago•0 comments

Best Robotic Arms for Education

https://www.orienta21.com/en/best-robotic-arms-for-education/
1•Gedxx•22m ago•0 comments

Bluesky wants to make it easier to buy, sell, and fundraise on the network

https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/15/bluesky-wants-to-make-it-easier-to-buy-sell-and-fundraise-on-th...
2•doener•23m ago•0 comments

Solvej Balle's Philosophy of Time

https://yalereview.org/article/clare-carlisle-on-solvej-balle
1•internet_points•25m ago•1 comments

Targeted ads delivered 0-click exploits to install mercenary malware

https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/10/targeted-ads-delivered-0-click-exploits-to-install-merce...
1•joozio•25m ago•1 comments

Show HN: I built 7 B2B APIs and 5 MCP servers for compliance and trade

https://jsonexlab.com
1•alexcodebytes•26m ago•0 comments

The insider trading you're allowed to do

https://coached.com/essays/the-insider-trading-youre-allowed-to-do/
2•rohanm93•27m ago•0 comments

Antiviral immunity via telomerase-like reverse transcription in bacteria

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-11250-8
1•frostbyte7•30m ago•0 comments

Next.js Security Update for Upstream Vulnerabilities

https://nextjs.org/blog/nextjs-security-update-october-14-2026
2•ersinesen•30m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: Has anyone decompiled Claude Code yet?

1•matt3210•30m ago•2 comments

Inference Cooperative

https://inference.coop/
1•broabprobe•31m ago•0 comments

Show HN: I built an online community and educational platform for trauma healing

https://rannu37hearteu.wixsite.com/seen-whole
1•SeenWhole_Offic•31m ago•1 comments

Claude Code Features and Settings Reference

https://hidekazu-konishi.com/entry/claude_code_features_settings_reference_2026.html
1•ankitg12•34m ago•0 comments

Home lab: own cert to reach: Home Assistant, Vaultwarden and Gitea

https://blog.jacq.cc/guides/client-certificates-home-assistant-vaultwarden-gitea/
1•xx__yy•35m ago•0 comments

Reflect Orbital tests illumination by a space reflector

https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/mount-whitney-reflect-orbital-22478878.php
1•krab•36m ago•0 comments

Build vs. Buy When Building Just Got Cheap

https://kevingoldsmith.substack.com/p/build-vs-buy-when-building-just-got
1•fagnerbrack•39m ago•0 comments

Prjcombine – An FPGA reverse engineering project

https://codeberg.org/prjunnamed/prjcombine
1•dverlaeckt80•40m ago•0 comments

Turning a Run-Over Samsung Galaxy S23 into a Gaming PC

https://hackaday.com/2026/10/08/turning-a-run-over-samsung-galaxy-s23-into-a-gaming-pc/
1•Gedxx•41m ago•0 comments

WhatsApp vs. NSO Group: Technical Report

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/16395340/741/45/whatsapp-inc-v-nso-group-technologies-limited/
2•l0kihardt•44m ago•0 comments

How AI proof is my business?

https://keithbrown.com/tools/ai-proof
2•drewlem•49m ago•1 comments

Show HN: TheFairNet Professional Networking Platform

https://thefairnet.com/
1•christos-mak•50m ago•1 comments

Forgejo v17.0 Is Available

https://forgejo.org/2026-10-release-v17-0/
1•Hissigh•52m ago•0 comments