When starting a new project in web development, choices for front-end libraries and frameworks turned into achingly powerful. The backbone of the web application is of course JavaScript. Most developers of software, however, are still in an awkward situation on what JS front-end framework best fits their development projects. Among the most popular frameworks, today include React, Vue, and Angular.
Would it be Angular, React, or Vue in 2020?
Every developer has a different skill and knowledge level, deadlines, complexities, unique project requirements, and so on. Thus, it’s not obligatory that if for instance, React is the choice of 30,000 developers, it would also fit with your requirements. For a business organization, what services would they seek then? Would it be React JS services, the services of an AngularJS, or VueJS development services? Let’s dip into these three trends and compare them in detail to be able to make the most informed choice.
An Overview
The framework, developed by Facebook is a popular one that’s used for building and operating a high-powered UI of the web pages. Angular, on the other hand, is the most efficient, powerful, and open-source framework of JavaScript that’s used for the development of SPA or a Single Page Application. Nevertheless, the huge community of developers and members got the back of Vue in supporting libraries that help wrestle the complexities that large single-page apps have.
Vue possesses all the ethical characteristics of both React and Angular. And because of this, the framework has become popular in just a short time without showing signs of plummeting.
The History
React.js
Launched in 2013, it had a simple goal of dividing the User Interface into a group of components to simplify the process of developing visual interfaces. It’s used to create single-page apps through implementing an astounding new feature, which is the virtual DOM. Not only was it open-source, but it was also adopted by around three million developers of front-end apps.
After that, the framework’s coding issues gradually have been resolved. In 2014, it has then gained a robust reputation. The giant companies using this framework are Facebook and Instagram which increased the popularity of React JS development services amongst the community.
Angular.js
In 2010, the first version as a front-end app was launched. Fast-forward to 2016, Google’s core team came up with Angular that’s based entirely on three key pillars, the RXJS, TypeScript, and Zone.js. The framework today dropped the JS suffix after the last Angular 2+ release on May 28 last year. The most popular companies that use Angular today are Wix and Google. The services of an AngularJS Development Company becomes in demand.
Vue.js
Released by Evan You, the ex-engineer of Google, Vue may be the youngest but yet it’s the most potent member of the JavaScript Framework community. The framework came out with the version 2.6.10 in March of 2019 to practically get rid of all the limitations of all the other JS frameworks. Moreover, it offers flexibility to create the next level of web apps seamlessly. Alibaba and GitLab are among the most significant Vue users today, benefiting from the expertise and reliability of a VueJS development services company.
The Advantages
React.js
1. Ensures fast rendering. Creating a high-load app required taking into account how the structure would affect overall performance. Even the latest engines and platforms could not ensure the absence of bottlenecks since the DOM or document object model is the structure like a tree and even small changes could cause ugly ripples to the interface. The virtual DOM if React makes it extremely beneficial for dynamic and loaded solutions.
2. Facilitates further maintenance and boosts productivity. Updates often turn into a headache since the app has a complex logic and the changes in a single component could impact others. React is supplemented with the ability to reuse system components, which developers define as one of the best React features.
3. SEO-friendly. Another benefit is the ability to deal with the failure of a common search engine to read JavaScript-heavy applications. React could run on the server, which renders and returns the virtual DOM to into a browser as a regular webpage.
4. Has a helpful developer toolset. Learning new technologies and making use of them in the next project could. The advantage of React is its coverage when designing tools and debugging. The React Developer tools is a browser extension for both Firefox and Chrome, which allows developers to observe component hierarchies, inspect current props and state, and discover child and parent components.
5. Guarantees a stable code. To ensure that even mere changes that occur in the child structure will not affect parents, React only makes use of a downward data flow. With changing an object, a developer will just modify its state, do changes then only specific components would be updated.
Angular.js
1. Modules. An Angular-based app could be deemed as a puzzle in which every module is required to see the full picture. There are several ways of adding various elements. Angular solves the issue of exploitation of global function through putting a limit to the scope of all module functionalities it was defined and used.
2. Improved architecture design. Some of the big web apps have many components. Angular streamlines managing the components even if a new programmer gets on board the project after the development has started. The architecture is created in a way that helps a programmer easily locate and develop code.
3. Dependency Injection and Services. A component or service sometimes may need other dependent services to fulfill a task. A Dependency Injection design is used in fulfilling dependencies, dividing the job among various services. The dependent object would be created and injected by an Angular injector, which is responsible for creating service instances and then injecting them into classes such as services and components.
4. Cleaner code and higher scalability. TypeScript is used for writing the framework. It complies fully with JavaScript and helps see and eliminate common coding mistakes.
5. Custom directives. Custom directives boost the functionality of HTML and perfect for dynamic client-side apps. They all begin with the ‘ng’ prefix so HTML could identify them.
Vue.js
1. Small. The smaller the size, the more it would be used. One of the biggest advantages of Vue is it’s being small. The size is only 18-21KB and takes no time at all for a user to download then use it.
2. Flexibility. Another great advantage of Vue is a great deal of flexibility. It enables users to write a template in JavaScript file, HTML file, and pure JS file with the use of virtual nodes. Moreover, the flexibility makes it easy to understand for developers of other JS frameworks.
3. Easy to understand. Vue is very popular because it’s easy to understand. A user could easily add Vue.js to a web project due to its simple structure. Furthermore, it has a well-defined architecture to separate life-cycle methods, data, and custom methods.
4. Simple integration. Web developers could integrate with existing apps due to Vue’s being a JavaScript-based framework. There is no necessity to set up a node and npm to begin using Vue.js. Meaning that it is useful for the development of new web apps and altering pre-existing apps as well.
5. Two-way communication. Because of its MVVM architecture, Vue could facilitate two-way communications, making it easy to handle HTML blocks. Whatever changes are made in the UI is passed to the data and changes made in the data will be reflected in the UI.
Popularity In 2020
Taking into consideration the Stack Overflow Trends, GitHub, and NPM trends, the market location of these three frameworks could be established.
- Stack Overflow Trends. React is on top, leaving Angular second. React came out getting the biggest percentage, followed by Angular. Nevertheless, the popularity of Vue grows continuously in the past years.
- GitHub Trends. Vue is highly-rated, followed by React. There were surprising but exciting statistics divulged by GitHub Repositories. React on the other hand has the most view and Fork rates. Vue, however, has the most starts.
- NPM Trends. The result turned out React getting the most downloads and preferences, followed by Vue. Nonetheless, it doesn’t mean that they’re the best. To determine the best option, you have to check out more surveys.
Performance
One of the most vital aspects of a front-end app is performance. The DOM is considered as the User Interface of any application in evaluating the performance of the three frameworks.
Angular.js
Uses real DOM and best for single-page-apps in which content is updated occasionally. All the changes made in the Model into views is done with the use of the Two-Day binding process which replicates changes made in the Model into views in an intuitive and secure way.
The downside: Because of too many features, it slows down performance when translating a project into heavy apps, than Vue and React.
React.js
Makes use of the Virtual DOM, improves the performance of an app in any size that needs content updates on a regular basis. Based on a single-direction flow of data, this provides better control over the whole project.
The downside: As it changes constantly, developers have regularly updated their skills to flawlessly match with new things. Everything evolves, thus there are times that tech giants wouldn’t find them comfortable to work with.
Vue.js
It has all the good things of Angular and React, thus it uses the virtual DOM to deliver high memory allocation and performance.
The downside: Vue, being a new member has the most small-scale support community.
Angular vs. React vs. Vue in Migration
Migrating from version to version at times could be a problem for developers. Comparing the process of migration of React, Angular, and Vue in 2020, you’d be surprised to discover that Vue is the quickest and simplest to upgrade.
Angular.js
Major updates are being released twice a year. Furthermore, there’s a period of another six months before abhorring any major APIs. It ultimately means that developers will have two six-month release cycles to do necessary changes.
React.js
React upgrades through versions are in general much more accessible compared to Angular and Vue. Easy migration stability from version to version is ensured by scripts like the React code-mod. Facebook furthermore believes that the greatest concerns are stability since several world-renowned companies, such as Twitter and Airbnb uses React.
Vue.js
The smartest migration choices are found in Vue. Web developers just have to use a migration helper tool to do website changes since 90 percent of APIs stay the same if you opt to migrate from 1.x to 2.
Learning Curve
For any framework, the learning curve is not only limited to coding. The true concerns are how easy it is to debug and test, especially when handling huge projects with plenty of coding.
Both Angular and React on one spectrum need to have a lot of experience and knowledge of JavaScript when it comes to third-party libraries’ decision-making. A lot of companies, on the other hand, are switching to Vue fast since it has the simplest learning curve compared to the two.
Despite that, a great number of app developers prefer React since it lets them build an app in the latest modern methodologies, unlike Vue that follows the old-fashioned method still. Regardless of the plunging Angular popularity, it lands in the top three among the JS frameworks since it provides an informative and clear message to developers to fix issues fast.
Size of Framework
Vue and React suits a light-weight app when taking into account the size of every framework and library. Angular, however, is a great fit for heavyweight and complex apps. Angular approximately has a 500 KB size, React 100 KB size, and Vue with 80 KB size. How do these framework sizes impact the software projects of a business?
- Angular.js. It has a range of features, which, from templates to testing utilities empowers developers. For a big scale and feature-rich app, Angular is the ideal choice.
- React.js. It’s not the same as Angular and doesn’t provide a huge spectrum of libraries like Angular. For modern web development, React therefore is a perfect fit.
- Vue.js. The smallest and ideal for lightweight web and single-page apps development. Vue is the best option for a smaller and simple to access the library.
Speed of Deployment
- Angular.js. A broad framework that takes care of everything, from the creation of a project to optimizing code. For overall deployment, it’s the most challenging framework. Nonetheless, it provides a wide choice of features, so developers could have a bundled app that’s fully optimized to deploy to any static host with a single command.
- React.js. Even if it doesn’t come with the same coding as Angular or Vue, when talking about flexibility it is the best. Any library could be mixed and matched with React. With its growth, now there are CLI tools, such as the Next.js and Create React App.
- Vue.js. The pre-coding structure of Vue allows for quick app deployment without jeopardizing the app’s performance. You could get what you need in development with a simple command. With Vue, developing an app is easy and fast, thus it’s an ideal option for small businesses or startups.
The Support Community
- Angular.js. Since its launch, Google maintained and supported it, updated every six months. Angular moreover is been used by distinguished companies in the world, like Adobe, Microsoft, Freelancer, Apple, and so on.
- React.js. It provides rich framework functions. The main organizations that use it include Netflix, Instagram, Yahoo, Dropbox, Whatsapp, Airbnb, Microsoft, and more.
- Vue.js. While a new member, it doesn’t have a very active community similar to Angular and React. However, it’s still used by leading companies, including Gitlab, Alibaba, EuroNews, and a whole lot more.
Tips on What to Choose
Angular is a complete package, offering all the right from the time of development to testing when developing a web app. The flexible React library needs support from other libraries to develop web apps. Vue is a mixture of React and Angular, adding efficiency, simplicity, and speed to any web app development project.
- Go for Angular.js if you need:
- A scalable and reliable framework
- To develop a feature-rich, big-scale app
- Develop native apps, web apps or hybrid apps that are substantial investment projects and for long-term
- Develop a real-time app such as message or chat apps
- Object-oriented programming
- TypeScript coding
- Go for React.js if you need:
- A flexible framework that ensures secure web development solutions
- Develop cross-platform apps or single-page apps
- Expand the app’s existing functionality
- Develop light-weight and enterprise-grade modern apps fast
- Robust community support and solution
- Go for Vue.js if you need:
- Quick, high-performance and smart apps
- Migrate from an existing project to a modern framework but with limited resources
- Choose a framework that ensures early time to market
- Use one supported by the community rather than a company
- Develop a lightweight and small app like Grammarly
Take Away
There are indeed so many frameworks of JavaScript. However, React, Angular, and Vue are the real giants of the fast-evolving ecosystem. The comparison guide is to help you understand the background and functions of the frameworks to make a well-informed choice.
Author Bio:
Olivia Diaz is working at eTatvaSoft, an Enterprise level Mobile Application Development Company. Being a tech geek, she keeps a close watch over the industry focusing on the latest technology news and gadgets. Follow me on Twitter.
