frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

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.

Microsoft doesn't know what to do about the memory pricing crisis theyre causing

https://www.pcgamer.com/software/platforms/microsoft-doesnt-know-what-to-do-about-the-memory-pric...
1•evo_9•1m ago•0 comments

China's Xiaomi MiMo Is Now 15X Faster Than ChatGPT and Claude

https://decrypt.co/370449/xiaomi-mimo-ultraspeed-ai-model-faster-chatgpt-claude
1•gmays•2m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Garden Letters – Floral Letter Design and Music

https://gardenletters.net
1•QingWu•8m ago•0 comments

Z-Library Lets People Run White-Label, Login-Only Pirate Mirrors

https://torrentfreak.com/z-library-lets-people-run-white-label-login-only-pirate-mirrors/
1•Cider9986•11m ago•0 comments

Anthropic Walks Back Policy That Could Have 'Sabotaged' Researchers Using Claude

https://www.wired.com/story/anthropic-responds-to-backlash-on-claudes-secret-sabotage-on-ai-resea...
3•ericflo•14m ago•1 comments

Tell HN: Anthropic's Fable model is too expensive

4•hyhmrright•16m ago•1 comments

What the Heck Happened to Mountain Bike YouTube? [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oQ4XY4P1n8
1•operatingthetan•16m ago•1 comments

Have a Thorny Medical Question? Your Doctor May Be Using A.I. For That

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/08/business/ai-medicine-doctors.html
1•lxm•17m ago•0 comments

Aram Harrow, quantum researcher: 'These computers won't take 10 years'

https://english.elpais.com/technology/2026-06-05/aram-harrow-quantum-researcher-these-computers-w...
2•olvy0•23m ago•0 comments

Canada introduces legislation to ban social media U16, regulate AI chatbots

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/canada-introduces-legislation-ban-social-205633582.html
1•1vuio0pswjnm7•24m ago•0 comments

Show HN: DocStreamAI – Automatic invoice/receipt collection for Quickbooks/Xero

https://docstreamai.com/
1•alexjimenez99•26m ago•0 comments

They Spent Years on a Math Problem. Then They Were Scooped by A.I

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/08/science/ai-scoop-young-mathematicians.html
1•lxm•27m ago•0 comments

The backlash against AI, in 4 charts

https://www.fastcompany.com/91553925/the-backlash-against-ai-in-4-charts
2•1vuio0pswjnm7•28m ago•0 comments

I made an agent skill for making HTML slides with consultant style

1•Hansun•29m ago•0 comments

200x kv Cache Compression

https://twitter.com/oneill_c/status/2064724063478767804
1•nico•31m ago•0 comments

Count Steps with 99.5% Accuracy

https://www.bambistep.com
1•stokaty•32m ago•0 comments

ComHub 64 USB Hub Review

https://lyonsden.net/comhub-review/
1•jandeboevrie•32m ago•0 comments

A Crime Doesn't Make a Child an Adult

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/06/kids-adult-time-counterproductive/687449/
8•paulpauper•32m ago•2 comments

Gaslighting Openness

https://lucumr.pocoo.org/2026/6/10/gaslighting/
1•lumpa•33m ago•0 comments

Biotech Paper Game

https://www.overcomingbias.com/p/biotech-paper-game
1•paulpauper•33m ago•0 comments

If LLMs are all persona, whose persona are they?

https://persona.earthpilot.ai
1•paulpauper•35m ago•0 comments

Where in the world, and when, does this human artifact belong?

https://anthropeum.com/
1•js2•36m ago•0 comments

Show HN: I built a Red Flag Warning zone-check tool for the East Bay in 48h

https://redflag-check.info
3•vedant28t•41m ago•1 comments

SpaceX IPO demand is approaching four times oversubscribed, source says

https://www.reuters.com/world/spacex-ipo-demand-is-approaching-four-times-oversubscribed-source-s...
2•SilverElfin•41m ago•1 comments

Type the scene. Seedance 2.0 Mini films it

https://seedance2mini.ai/
2•xbaicai•42m ago•1 comments

Fidelity Bets People Want Their 401(k)s to Look More Like Pensions

https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/retirement/fidelity-bets-people-want-their-401-k-s-to-look-m...
3•petethomas•43m ago•0 comments

Alleged Fable sabotage of an ML project

https://xcancel.com/adamislucky/status/2064731321360912433
2•gslepak•45m ago•0 comments

Explorable Explanations

https://worrydream.com/ExplorableExplanations/
1•soupspaces•47m ago•0 comments

What remains scarce after AGI?

https://www.dwarkesh.com/p/alex-imas-phil-trammell
2•gmays•48m ago•0 comments

Moomin (1990)

https://archive.org/details/moomin-1990
1•petethomas•49m ago•0 comments