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So much of this. React is like one step forwards, 10 steps backwards. Mixing markup and logic, adding a whole front-end compiler, needing imports from third pa

by Mizza 8y ago

So much of this. React is like one step forwards, 10 steps backwards. Mixing markup and logic, adding a whole front-end compiler, needing imports from third parties to re-implement basic browser functionality - for what? So that users have to see a loading spinner and their back button doesn't work any more? I'm 90% sure it's an accidental conspiracy to keep front end developer salaries high. Talking to older heads, apparently they felt the same way when XML and "middleware" came along..

meesterdude 8y ago
It's really helpful to hear that i'm not alone with this. My troubles with picking up and buying into react has not sat well with me, but seeing someone else say what i've been thinking is a huge relief.
jmcgough 8y ago
React is most useful if you have really complex state that you're trying to manage and reason about. It's probably overused because people who don't need it are just doing whatever's trendy without understanding trade-offs, but it's a godsend for UIs that need hundreds of components, persistent state, etc. IMO people often add Redux to it before a project really needs it. There's no need to mix markup and logic, a good pattern is to have dumb components that just translate state into markup, and keep your logic elsewhere. Modern javascript (and typescript) is a joy to program in and has greatly improved my productivity. Having to compile it with babel is a small price to pay.
- Aeolun 8y ago
  Modern JavaScript is better than old JavaScript, but it’s still JS, and I’m missing basically all features from other languages that make programming great.
corsivo 8y ago
SSR and PushState have prevented your "for whats?" from being real issues ever. Mixing markup and logic along with not capturing benefits from the transpiler are more symptoms of poor implementation decisions rather than flaws with the actual tool.
JaggedNZ 8y ago
I love what react does on the front end for Complex UI, but man does the tooling suck, and why the hell does it need 2mb of libs for a 'basic' app.... seriously, I get that Rails is moving into it's maturity and is avoiding big breaking changes , but why can't I spin up a Hybrid React/Rails app (that's not pure API) that doesn't require jiggery pockery with webpacker? I don't know, maybe I'm just over the hill already and doing it wrong ...

by Mizza 8y ago

meesterdude 8y ago

It's really helpful to hear that i'm not alone with this. My troubles with picking up and buying into react has not sat well with me, but seeing someone else say what i've been thinking is a huge relief.

jmcgough 8y ago

React is most useful if you have really complex state that you're trying to manage and reason about. It's probably overused because people who don't need it are just doing whatever's trendy without understanding trade-offs, but it's a godsend for UIs that need hundreds of components, persistent state, etc. IMO people often add Redux to it before a project really needs it. There's no need to mix markup and logic, a good pattern is to have dumb components that just translate state into markup, and keep your logic elsewhere. Modern javascript (and typescript) is a joy to program in and has greatly improved my productivity. Having to compile it with babel is a small price to pay.

Aeolun 8y ago
Modern JavaScript is better than old JavaScript, but it’s still JS, and I’m missing basically all features from other languages that make programming great.

corsivo 8y ago

SSR and PushState have prevented your "for whats?" from being real issues ever. Mixing markup and logic along with not capturing benefits from the transpiler are more symptoms of poor implementation decisions rather than flaws with the actual tool.

JaggedNZ 8y ago

I love what react does on the front end for Complex UI, but man does the tooling suck, and why the hell does it need 2mb of libs for a 'basic' app.... seriously, I get that Rails is moving into it's maturity and is avoiding big breaking changes , but why can't I spin up a Hybrid React/Rails app (that's not pure API) that doesn't require jiggery pockery with webpacker? I don't know, maybe I'm just over the hill already and doing it wrong ...