Overview

Handlebars.js

Stacks8.3K

Followers3.2K

Votes308

Twig

Stacks381

Followers157

Votes8

Handlebars.js vs Twig: What are the differences?

Introduction

In web development, Handlebars.js and Twig are popular templating languages used to generate dynamic HTML content. While they serve the same purpose, there are certain key differences between the two that set them apart. This article will delve into these distinctions.

Syntax: Handlebars.js uses a syntax similar to Mustache, with double curly braces {{}} for placeholders. On the other hand, Twig has a syntax that resembles PHP, with placeholders enclosed in {% %} or {{ }} brackets. This divergence in syntax affects the way expressions and control structures are written in the respective templating languages.
Execution: Handlebars.js is executed on the client-side using JavaScript, meaning the rendering process occurs in the user's browser. Twig, however, primarily operates on the server-side, making it more suitable for server-side rendering or server-side templating engines.
Custom Helpers: Handlebars.js provides a limited set of built-in helpers for tasks like conditionals and loops, but allows developers to create custom helpers for more complex functionality. Twig, on the other hand, includes a broader range of built-in filters, functions, and tags that can be readily used. This difference provides developers with varying levels of flexibility when it comes to extending the functionality of their templates.
Template Inheritance: Twig supports template inheritance, allowing developers to create a base template that can be extended and modified by child templates. This feature enables the reuse of common layout structures and simplifies the management of template hierarchy. Handlebars.js, however, lacks this built-in support for template inheritance, making it less suitable for large-scale projects that require extensive template reuse and organization.
Strictness: Handlebars.js is strict when it comes to variable usage, meaning it only allows variables to be accessed if they are explicitly passed into the template's context. On the other hand, Twig is more permissive, allowing variables to be accessed from the template's context, as well as automatically supplying default values if a variable is not defined. This difference in strictness impacts the way variables are handled and can affect the ease of development.
Community and Ecosystem: Handlebars.js boasts a larger and more mature community, which has resulted in a wider range of plugins, extensions, and resources available. Twig, while still popular, has a smaller community but benefits from being tightly integrated with the Symfony framework, providing integration with other Symfony components and tools.

In summary, Handlebars.js and Twig differ in syntax, execution environment, custom helper capabilities, template inheritance support, strictness in variable usage, and the size of their respective communities. Understanding these differences can help developers make an informed decision when selecting a templating language for their projects.

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Advice on Handlebars.js, Twig

Asad

Software Engineer at Lisec Automation

Jun 15, 2020

Needs adviceon

.NET

Handlebars.js

@All: I am searching for the best template engine for .NET. I started looking into several template engines, including the Dotliquid, Handlebars.js, Scriban, and Razorlight. I found handlebar a bit difficult to use when using the loops and condition because you need to register for helper first. DotLiquid and Scriban were easy to use and in Razorlight I did not find the example for loops.

Can you please suggest which template engine is best suited for the use of conditional/list and looping and why? Or if anybody could provide me a resource or link where I can compare which is best?

Thanks In Advance

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Comments

Detailed Comparison

Handlebars.js	Twig
Handlebars.js is an extension to the Mustache templating language created by Chris Wanstrath. Handlebars.js and Mustache are both logicless templating languages that keep the view and the code separated like we all know they should be.	It is a modern template engine for PHP. It is flexible, fast, and secure. Its syntax originates from Jinja and Django templates.
-	Concise; Template oriented syntax; Full featured; Easy to learn; Extensibility; Unit tested; Documented
Statistics
Stacks 8.3K	Stacks 381
Followers 3.2K	Followers 157
Votes 308	Votes 8
Pros & Cons
Pros 106 Simple 76 Great templating language 50 Open source 36 Logicless 20 Integrates well into any codebase	Pros 2 Gulp 2 Native html, xml, txt etc 2 Front to back with no efforts 2 For both nodejs and php
Integrations
Mustache	PHP

What are some alternatives to Handlebars.js, Twig?

Node.js

Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient, perfect for data-intensive real-time applications that run across distributed devices.

Rails

Rails is a web-application framework that includes everything needed to create database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern.

Django

Django is a high-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design.

Laravel

It is a web application framework with expressive, elegant syntax. It attempts to take the pain out of development by easing common tasks used in the majority of web projects, such as authentication, routing, sessions, and caching.

.NET

.NET is a general purpose development platform. With .NET, you can use multiple languages, editors, and libraries to build native applications for web, mobile, desktop, gaming, and IoT for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and more.

ASP.NET Core

A free and open-source web framework, and higher performance than ASP.NET, developed by Microsoft and the community. It is a modular framework that runs on both the full .NET Framework, on Windows, and the cross-platform .NET Core.

Symfony

It is written with speed and flexibility in mind. It allows developers to build better and easy to maintain websites with PHP..

Spring

A key element of Spring is infrastructural support at the application level: Spring focuses on the "plumbing" of enterprise applications so that teams can focus on application-level business logic, without unnecessary ties to specific deployment environments.

Spring Boot

Spring Boot makes it easy to create stand-alone, production-grade Spring based Applications that you can "just run". We take an opinionated view of the Spring platform and third-party libraries so you can get started with minimum fuss. Most Spring Boot applications need very little Spring configuration.