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  5. Component vs npm

Component vs npm

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Component
Component
Stacks214
Followers98
Votes20
npm
npm
Stacks137.4K
Followers82.2K
Votes1.6K
GitHub Stars17.6K
Forks3.0K

Component vs npm: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this Markdown code, we will discuss the key differences between Component and npm. Component and npm are both tools used in web development, but they serve different purposes and have distinct features.

1. Installation Process:

The main difference between Component and npm lies in their installation process. Component utilizes a command line tool to manage dependencies and create reusable web components. On the other hand, npm is a package manager that manages and installs JavaScript packages for building applications.

2. Package Management:

Component uses a specialized registry called "component.json" to manage packages and their versions. It allows developers to specify which versions of a component they want to use in their project. In contrast, npm uses a central registry to manage packages and their versions. Developers can easily search and install packages from the npm registry based on their needs.

3. Versioning:

When it comes to versioning, Component follows a stricter versioning system. It uses semantic versioning (Major.Minor.Patch) to indicate changes and updates in a component's code. This helps in maintaining compatibility and ensuring proper version control. On the contrary, npm also supports semantic versioning but is more lenient with its versioning system.

4. Component-Based vs. Module-Based:

Component is primarily focused on component-based development. It enables developers to create reusable and encapsulated web components that can be easily integrated into different projects. npm, on the other hand, focuses on module-based development, where packages consist of modules that perform specific functionalities.

5. Component's Ecosystem:

Component has its own ecosystem and tooling, providing a unique set of features tailored to component-based development. It includes tools like the Component Package Manager (CPM) for package installation and management. In contrast, npm is more widely used and has a larger community support with a vast ecosystem of packages and tools.

6. Usage in Different Contexts:

Component is often used in scenarios where web components need to be created for specific projects or frameworks like Angular or Vue.js. It allows developers to create modular and reusable UI components for their applications. On the other hand, npm finds applications in broader contexts, including backend development, server-side scripting, and command-line tools, apart from web development.

In summary, Component and npm differ in their installation process, package management, versioning, development approach, ecosystem, and usage context. Component specializes in component-based web development, whereas npm is a versatile package manager used in various domains of software development.

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Advice on Component, npm

Julien
Julien

CTO at Jasp

May 15, 2022

Decided

Yarn v3 is a fantastic tool to organize monorepos. Thanks to its offline cache, our CI/CD steps are streamlined and faster.

Other tools like Turbo integrate easily with its monorepo features.

One regretful thing is that Yarn PnP is not widely supported, which does not allow us to fully use Zero-installs/PnP for even faster builds and a better developer experience.

11.1k views11.1k
Comments
StackShare
StackShare

Apr 23, 2019

Needs adviceonNode.jsNode.jsnpmnpmYarnYarn

From a StackShare Community member: “I’m a freelance web developer (I mostly use Node.js) and for future projects I’m debating between npm or Yarn as my default package manager. I’m a minimalist so I hate installing software if I don’t need to- in this case that would be Yarn. For those who made the switch from npm to Yarn, what benefits have you noticed? For those who stuck with npm, are you happy you with it?"

294k views294k
Comments
Sub
Sub

Developer

Jan 5, 2022

Review

I don't think there's a decision to be made, aren't they different products and services? GitHub is traditionally an online repository based around Git versioning. GitHub have expanded into other things since Microsoft came in though. Nevertheless I recommend seriously taking the time to work through the very steep learning curve of setting up a local development environment. You could start by using Visual Studio Code and get a free GitHub account to push your private projects onto. If anything it'll be a free offsite backup of your work. You'll need to install Git to take care of your local repository as well as NPM and also look at Yarn. Have this on your priority list, do some research, gather links, tutorials, downloads etc and take a week out to get it done when you feel you're at the stage where you'd like to be more organised. You could start by trying VSCode see whether you like the features and using it as an editor. Look at other editors and so on.

663 views663
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Component
Component
npm
npm

Component's philosophy is the UNIX philosophy of the web - to create a platform for small, reusable components that consist of JS, CSS, HTML, images, fonts, etc. With its well-defined specs, using Component means not worrying about most frontend problems such as package management, publishing components to a registry, or creating a custom build process for every single app.

npm is the command-line interface to the npm ecosystem. It is battle-tested, surprisingly flexible, and used by hundreds of thousands of JavaScript developers every day.

Component is one of many frontend solutions. One of the major differences between Component and other solutions is that it is vertically integrated, meaning it does everything from package management to building. Of course, to do so, it is opinionated and is not suitable for every workflow.
-
Statistics
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Stars
17.6K
GitHub Forks
-
GitHub Forks
3.0K
Stacks
214
Stacks
137.4K
Followers
98
Followers
82.2K
Votes
20
Votes
1.6K
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 20
    Open source
Pros
  • 648
    Best package management system for javascript
  • 382
    Open-source
  • 327
    Great community
  • 148
    More packages than rubygems, pypi, or packagist
  • 112
    Nice people matter
Cons
  • 5
    Problems with lockfiles
  • 5
    Bad at package versioning and being deterministic
  • 3
    Node-gyp takes forever
  • 1
    Super slow

What are some alternatives to Component, npm?

RequireJS

RequireJS

RequireJS loads plain JavaScript files as well as more defined modules. It is optimized for in-browser use, including in a Web Worker, but it can be used in other JavaScript environments, like Rhino and Node. It implements the Asynchronous Module API. Using a modular script loader like RequireJS will improve the speed and quality of your code.

Browserify

Browserify

Browserify lets you require('modules') in the browser by bundling up all of your dependencies.

Yarn

Yarn

Yarn caches every package it downloads so it never needs to again. It also parallelizes operations to maximize resource utilization so install times are faster than ever.

Verdaccio

Verdaccio

A simple, zero-config-required local private npm registry. Comes out of the box with its own tiny database, and the ability to proxy other registries (eg. npmjs.org), caching the downloaded modules along the way.

pip

pip

It is the package installer for Python. You can use pip to install packages from the Python Package Index and other indexes.

Duo

Duo

Duo is a next-generation package manager that blends the best ideas from Component, Browserify and Go to make organizing and writing front-end code quick and painless.

Pika.dev

Pika.dev

It is a new kind of package registry for the modern web. It handles formatting, configuring, building and publishing every package on the registry, so that individual authors don't have to.

Bundler

Bundler

It provides a consistent environment for Ruby projects by tracking and installing the exact gems and versions that are needed. It is an exit from dependency hell, and ensures that the gems you need are present in development, staging, and production.

Browserify-CDN

Browserify-CDN

Browsers don't have the require method defined, but Node.js does. With Browserify you can write code that uses require in the same way that you would use it in Node.

Entropic

Entropic

It is a new package registry with a new CLI, designed to be easy to stand up inside your network. It features an entirely new file-centric API and a content-addressable storage system that attempts to minimize the amount of data you must retrieve over a network. This file-centric approach also applies to the publication API.

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