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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.

Building an S3 File Browser with Cognito Authentication

https://bucketdrive.app/blog/s3-file-browser-with-cognito-authentication.html
1•justpeek•1m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: Do You Snore?

1•kva•1m ago•0 comments

A founder with $40K MRR get ignored while a connected dropout raised millions

https://brevoir.com
1•nabuhad•3m ago•1 comments

Hormuz Strait Monitor

https://hormuzstraitmonitor.com
1•a_tartaruga•3m ago•0 comments

Show HN: GitByBit – Learn Git by practice in your code editor

https://gitbybit.com/
2•neochief•3m ago•1 comments

Provision: LLM-powered server setup from Markdown

https://provision.sh/
2•gpjt•4m ago•0 comments

TSMC posts 35% jump in revenue to new record high as AI chip demand stays strong

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/10/tsmc-q1-record-revenue-ai-chip-demand-strong.html
2•Brajeshwar•5m ago•0 comments

Exponential quantum advantage in processing classical data

https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.07639
1•fuglede_•5m ago•0 comments

Running NixOS Micro VMs on macOS

https://abhinavsarkar.net/notes/2026-microvm-nix/
1•abhin4v•5m ago•0 comments

My Login Shell in Assembly

https://isene.org/2026/04/Bare.html
1•speckx•9m ago•0 comments

Humanity's oldest known song (1400 BC)

https://old.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/1cc9xlf/humanitys_oldest_known_song_is_the...
1•keepamovin•11m ago•0 comments

Design and Implementation of DuckDB Internals

https://duckdb.org/library/design-and-implementation-of-duckdb-internals/
1•mpweiher•11m ago•0 comments

Book Summary: Learn Python the Hard Way

https://medium.com/@fagnerbrack/book-summary-learn-python-the-hard-way-c2da8a30bbe9
1•fagnerbrack•12m ago•0 comments

Scaling Managed Agents: Decoupling the brain from the hands

https://www.anthropic.com/engineering/managed-agents
2•gmays•13m ago•0 comments

The Letta Code App

https://www.letta.com/blog/introducing-the-letta-code-app
2•forthwall•17m ago•0 comments

Goodbye Bloop

https://vibekanban.com/blog/goodbye-bloop
1•arrowsmith•19m ago•0 comments

US inflation surges to 3.3% as Iran war fuels energy price shock

https://www.euronews.com/business/2026/04/10/us-inflation-surges-to-33-as-iran-war-fuels-energy-p...
2•geox•19m ago•0 comments

Amazon ending support for older Kindles

https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/08/amazon-to-end-support-for-older-kindle-devices-2012/
2•eggy•20m ago•0 comments

AI on the couch: Anthropic gives Claude 20 hours of psychiatry

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/04/why-anthropic-sent-its-claude-ai-to-an-actual-psychiatrist/
3•Levitating•22m ago•1 comments

'Survivor' Style Corporate Retreat Descends into Hellish Nightmare

https://www.thedailybeast.com/survivor-style-corporate-retreat-descends-into-hellish-nightmare/
1•cainxinth•22m ago•0 comments

Cerebras Is Coming to AWS

https://www.cerebras.ai/blog/cerebras-is-coming-to-aws
4•jbredeche•22m ago•0 comments

Mauna Loa Solar Observatory Reopens to Support Artemis II Mission

https://www.meteorologicaltechnologyinternational.com/news/space-weather/mauna-loa-solar-observat...
1•lgeorget•23m ago•0 comments

US summons bank bosses over cyber risks from Anthropic's latest AI model

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/10/us-summoned-bank-bosses-to-discuss-cyber-risks...
2•ascold•23m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: Why Databases Instead of Filesystem?

2•uticus•23m ago•4 comments

Ask HN: Will we ever do something about patent trolls?

2•giancarlostoro•26m ago•2 comments

Fewer than 3 in 10 register for HMRC's Making Tax Digital shake-up

https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/10/mtd_hmrc/
1•Brajeshwar•26m ago•0 comments

Claude Mythos and misguided open-weight fearmongering

https://www.interconnects.ai/p/claude-mythos-and-misguided-open
1•speckx•27m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: How do designers and marketers use Command Line? AI? Technical tools?

1•vietthan•28m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: How do you and your team manage secrets day to day?

1•markvm•28m ago•0 comments

The Chilling Role of ChatGPT in Mass Shootings and Other Violence

https://www.motherjones.com/media/2026/04/chatgpt-tumbler-ridge-fsu-openai-chatbots-mass-shootings/
2•cdrnsf•31m ago•0 comments