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Great article. I see React as today's PHP... same terrible community, similar issues and also extremely messy code, yet if you dabble with it, you'll find a jo

by snshn 4y ago

Great article. I see React as today's PHP... same terrible community, similar issues and also extremely messy code, yet if you dabble with it, you'll find a job where people just don't know any better.

azangru 4y ago
> I see React as today's PHP... I see it as today's jQuery.
- shadowgovt 4y ago
  Yeah, React doesn't have the massive security holes baked deeply into the design that PHP did.
- snshn 4y ago
  That's another good one. I feel like the crowd that used to code all that horror for Wordpress, Magento, Joomla, and other PHP CMSes, slowly moved to jQuery from backend coding, and then has transitioned to React full-time as things became more frontend-heavy. Still same freelancers from 3rd world countries and junior devs who just want to pay their bills and honestly don't even like computers that much. That's why there's so much terrible software today, not just websites. Back in the 90s and early 00s our industry was full of people who truly loved computers and wanted to make something good. Today you have to really be careful what tech stack you pick, that can make a difference between being surrounded by people who just blindly follow popular trends and real badasses who can make something great out of nothing.
nicoburns 4y ago
I think the comparison with PHP is somewhat merited in that they're both practical technology communities with a "get stuff done" attitude. React is also often the entrypoint to programming these days (most bootcamps teach React) in a way that PHP used to be. I see this much more positively than you though. There's a lot of good code written in PHP these days. And it's great that programming is accessible to more people.
- robertlagrant 4y ago
  React is far better designed, though. Far fewer kludges. I like PHP, but it's not the same. I think React is more like Kubernetes. Not the simplest way to do things, but standardised, various gotchas designed out, lots of ecosystem, and plenty of people who know how to use it.

by snshn 4y ago

azangru 4y ago

> I see React as today's PHP... I see it as today's jQuery.

shadowgovt 4y ago
Yeah, React doesn't have the massive security holes baked deeply into the design that PHP did.
snshn 4y ago
That's another good one. I feel like the crowd that used to code all that horror for Wordpress, Magento, Joomla, and other PHP CMSes, slowly moved to jQuery from backend coding, and then has transitioned to React full-time as things became more frontend-heavy. Still same freelancers from 3rd world countries and junior devs who just want to pay their bills and honestly don't even like computers that much. That's why there's so much terrible software today, not just websites. Back in the 90s and early 00s our industry was full of people who truly loved computers and wanted to make something good. Today you have to really be careful what tech stack you pick, that can make a difference between being surrounded by people who just blindly follow popular trends and real badasses who can make something great out of nothing.

nicoburns 4y ago

I think the comparison with PHP is somewhat merited in that they're both practical technology communities with a "get stuff done" attitude. React is also often the entrypoint to programming these days (most bootcamps teach React) in a way that PHP used to be. I see this much more positively than you though. There's a lot of good code written in PHP these days. And it's great that programming is accessible to more people.

robertlagrant 4y ago
React is far better designed, though. Far fewer kludges. I like PHP, but it's not the same. I think React is more like Kubernetes. Not the simplest way to do things, but standardised, various gotchas designed out, lots of ecosystem, and plenty of people who know how to use it.