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  5. React.js Boilerplate vs Vanilla.JS

React.js Boilerplate vs Vanilla.JS

OverviewComparisonAlternatives

Overview

React.js Boilerplate
React.js Boilerplate
Stacks402
Followers464
Votes18
Vanilla.JS
Vanilla.JS
Stacks82
Followers85
Votes9

React.js Boilerplate vs Vanilla.JS: What are the differences?

Introduction

When it comes to web development, developers often have to choose between using React.js Boilerplate and Vanilla.JS. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, and understanding the key differences can help in making an informed decision.

  1. Project Setup: React.js Boilerplate provides a pre-configured environment with tools like Webpack, Babel, and ESLint already set up, making it easier to start a project quickly. On the other hand, Vanilla.JS requires manual setup of these tools which can be time-consuming for developers.

  2. Component-Based Structure: React.js follows a component-based architecture where UIs are broken down into reusable components, making it easier to manage complex applications. Vanilla.JS, while capable of achieving the same result, may require more effort in structuring components.

  3. Data Binding: React.js provides a one-way data binding approach, allowing for better control over data flow within an application. Vanilla.JS requires manual handling of data binding, making it more prone to errors and harder to maintain.

  4. Virtual DOM: React.js utilizes a virtual DOM to efficiently update the UI only when necessary, improving performance. Vanilla.JS directly manipulates the real DOM, potentially leading to performance issues in large applications with frequent UI updates.

  5. State Management: React.js offers a built-in state management solution that allows for easy synchronization of data between components. Vanilla.JS may require developers to implement custom solutions for state management, adding complexity to the codebase.

  6. Community and Ecosystem: React.js has a vast community and ecosystem with numerous libraries and tools available for developers, offering extensive support and resources. Vanilla.JS, being a pure JavaScript approach, may have less comprehensive community support and limited resources for complex development needs.

In Summary, understanding the key differences between React.js Boilerplate and Vanilla.JS can help developers make an informed choice based on project requirements, complexity, and development preferences.

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Detailed Comparison

React.js Boilerplate
React.js Boilerplate
Vanilla.JS
Vanilla.JS

Quick setup for new performance orientated, offline–first React.js applications featuring Redux, hot–reloading, PostCSS, react-router, ServiceWorker, AppCache, FontFaceObserver and Mocha.

It is a fast and cross-platform framework for building incredible, powerful JavaScript applications. it is the most lightweight framework available anywhere.

Using react-transform-hmr, your changes in the CSS and JS get reflected in the app instantly without refreshing the page. That means that the current application state persists even when you change something in the underlying code! For a very good explanation and demo, watch Dan Abramov himself talking about it at react-europe.;Redux is a much better implementation of a flux–like, unidirectional data flow. Redux makes actions composable, reduces the boilerplate code and makes hot–reloading possible in the first place. For a good overview of redux, check out the talk linked above or the official documentation!;Babel is a modular JavaScript transpiler that helps to use next generation JavaScript and more, like transformation for JSX, hot loading, error catching etc. Babel has a solid ecosystem of offical preset and plugins.;PostCSS is like Sass, but modular and capable of much more. PostCSS is, in essence, just a wrapper for plugins which exposes an easy to use, but very powerful API. While it is possible to replicate Sass features with PostCSS, PostCSS has an ecosystem of amazing plugins with functionalities Sass cannot even dream about having. See this talk for a short introduction to PostCSS.;Unit tests should be an important part of every web application developers toolchain. Mocha checks your application is working exactly how it should without you lifting a single finger. Congratulations, you just won a First Class ticket to world domination, fasten your seat belt please!;react-router is used for routing in this boilerplate. Using the new, and currently unreleased, 1.0 version, react-router makes routing really easy to do and takes care of a lot of the work. Since the version is not officially out yet, the documentation is not fully finished, but by far finished enough to work for most needs.;ServiceWorker and AppCache make it possible to use your application offline. As soon as the website has been opened once, it is cached and available without a network connection. See this talk for an explanation of the ServiceWorker used in this boilerplate. manifest.json is specifically for Chrome on Android. Users can add the website to the homescreen and use it like a native app!
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Statistics
Stacks
402
Stacks
82
Followers
464
Followers
85
Votes
18
Votes
9
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 4
    Amazing developer experience
  • 4
    Nice tooling
  • 3
    Easy setup
  • 3
    Great documentation
  • 3
    Easy offline first applications
Pros
  • 2
    Lightweight
  • 2
    Web-components
  • 1
    No buildtool overhead
  • 1
    NO CONVENTIONS
  • 1
    Unopinionated
Cons
  • 2
    You need to build anything yourself
Integrations
React
React
Mocha
Mocha
React Router
React Router
Redux
Redux
PostCSS
PostCSS
No integrations available

What are some alternatives to React.js Boilerplate, Vanilla.JS?

jQuery

jQuery

jQuery is a cross-platform JavaScript library designed to simplify the client-side scripting of HTML.

AngularJS

AngularJS

AngularJS lets you write client-side web applications as if you had a smarter browser. It lets you use good old HTML (or HAML, Jade and friends!) as your template language and lets you extend HTML’s syntax to express your application’s components clearly and succinctly. It automatically synchronizes data from your UI (view) with your JavaScript objects (model) through 2-way data binding.

React

React

Lots of people use React as the V in MVC. Since React makes no assumptions about the rest of your technology stack, it's easy to try it out on a small feature in an existing project.

Vue.js

Vue.js

It is a library for building interactive web interfaces. It provides data-reactive components with a simple and flexible API.

jQuery UI

jQuery UI

Whether you're building highly interactive web applications or you just need to add a date picker to a form control, jQuery UI is the perfect choice.

Svelte

Svelte

If you've ever built a JavaScript application, the chances are you've encountered – or at least heard of – frameworks like React, Angular, Vue and Ractive. Like Svelte, these tools all share a goal of making it easy to build slick interactive user interfaces. Rather than interpreting your application code at run time, your app is converted into ideal JavaScript at build time. That means you don't pay the performance cost of the framework's abstractions, or incur a penalty when your app first loads.

Flux

Flux

Flux is the application architecture that Facebook uses for building client-side web applications. It complements React's composable view components by utilizing a unidirectional data flow. It's more of a pattern rather than a formal framework, and you can start using Flux immediately without a lot of new code.

Famo.us

Famo.us

Famo.us is a free and open source JavaScript platform for building mobile apps and desktop experiences. What makes Famo.us unique is its JavaScript rendering engine and 3D physics engine that gives developers the power and tools to build native quality apps and animations using pure JavaScript.

Riot

Riot

Riot brings custom tags to all browsers. Think React + Polymer but with enjoyable syntax and a small learning curve.

Marko

Marko

Marko is a really fast and lightweight HTML-based templating engine that compiles templates to readable Node.js-compatible JavaScript modules, and it works on the server and in the browser. It supports streaming, async rendering and custom tags.

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