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Discussion on: You don’t need React for building websites

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jwhenry3 profile image
Justin Henry

The sad thing is if you advertise a position for web development and ask for someone with HTML, CSS, JS, you do not have a good basis for what the developers are capable of. If you provide a framework when looking for engineers, you will know that they at least are capable in that framework, which implies that they know HTML, CSS, JS.

Yes vanilla is faster, but how long does it take to build robust webapps and fully featured web sites that require complex solutions?

Frameworks imply that an engineer has a base set of skills in addition to just knowing how to construct a static page with minimal dynamic content.

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otacke profile image
Oliver Tacke

I am not sure about that implication about knowing JavaScript if React is known (anymore). I would have agreed with you until recently when I was introduced to a developer who supposedly knew React but that needed to be explained some rather basic JavaScript principles. That developer seemed to have come quite some way by being able to stitch React components together without actually knowing what's going on underneath.

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jwhenry3 profile image
Justin Henry

That is just sad, frameworks should be icing on the knowledge of HTML, CSS, JS, not a replacement.

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otacke profile image
Oliver Tacke

Couldn't agree more.

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shawnhansen profile image
Shawn Hansen

While true, it's also true that frameworks are a gateway to language learning.

Back in the day, mid-2000s, I was able to stitch together a pretty decent (at the time) web app using Ruby on Rails despite not knowing the Ruby language very well. Using RoR was a gateway to learning Ruby.

I think the same applies with things like React. It's a gateway for some to learning JS. I'm all for whatever gets people in the game.

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otacke profile image
Oliver Tacke

I believe frameworks can be a gateway to learning the basics, but still I don't believe that only knowing the framework makes you a professional developer that someone would want to hire. The main point that I answered to was "If you provide a framework when looking for engineers, you will know that they at least are capable in that framework, which implies that they know HTML, CSS, JS."