This article was originally published on Hashnode, check my blog out
It's been approximately one year and one month since Remix v1 was released to the world. Been writing it since then and it has changed a lot of my perceptions and the way I approach writing code altogether. Pouring my thoughts out about this framework, what it's done, how I'm faring and what the future might look like.
The Then:
November 2021
I can't exactly recall the date, but I remember waiting for the launch. I had heard a lot of great things from beta testers and was hyped about it. A framework built on web fundamentals and not a clumsy framework called React? I was sold!
I recall the launch being late, not only due to delays but because the timing was centred around the US timezone, I live in Nigeria and that is at least 6 hours ahead, so it was pretty late. The launch finally happened and I remember skimming the docs that night and playing with some code, this had potential 💪.
Remix wasn't the greatest it could be, but it was better than the popular option at that time. NextJS. Don't worry, Next is still great but nah, Remix is anytime for me.
Early 2022
I had just committed myself to write articles and I wasn't going to miss this one out, not a chance. I built projects and played with different use cases with Remix, and since I wasn't in school or working at the time, I had time on my hands and I didn't let it slide. I also started studying Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) around this time and decided to port the feature over to Remix.
Thanks to Jacob from the Remix team, I was able to create remix-pwa. A set of scripts to change your application in seconds. It was also my first major contribution to Open-Source, and it was a great feeling.
Remix taught me a lot, I unlearned around this period too. A couple of wrong practices and a few Udemy courses with a drizzle of YouTube crash courses and you sometimes forget to learn the utmost basics, which I did.
All I would say is: when I decided to learn Remix, I wasn't learning a framework, I was learning how the Web works.
Mid 2022
...Nothing to see here...
I was deep in school activities...
Schooling wasn't all that bad for me, it reinforced my knowledge and taught me more.
I did want to write a complete guide on Remix around this time, but couldn't find a good tool to do so efficiently.
The Now:
I joined my current company in August. The primary tool for front end was React at the time, good enough. It was a great bastion of knowledge (thanks to all my wonderful colleagues) and I was constantly trying to improve myself. Then I became the Lead Frontend Engineer, and around that time we were changing some of the technology we used. When I mentioned Remix to the team, no persuasion was needed, Remix said it all (Tip: Large react codebases can also be a nightmare)
I would call myself lucky, I use my favourite web framework at work and home. I have been able to iterate my learning and orientation throughout the year to adapt to some of the things I picked up. Seriously, give Remix a run 💿!
2023 is knocking and I'm still at it. I write other languages including Java, Golang and Python and being able to build apps with those languages and fuse them with Remix brings me joy and hope for the JavaScript (and web) community. So far, so good.
The Later:
This is all contemplation and just plans, but over this year, I've seen great tools and frameworks born out of nowhere and witnessing more options is quite pleasing. I have two that come to mind anytime I think of a framework with growth potential:
Sveltekit
Solid.js
I won't dive into them in this article but I can defo say that I would be playing around with them more and adopting them into more projects. Seriously, 2023 would be very exciting!
Remix is a framework that helped accelerate my growth as a Software Engineer, I'm not the only one that says so. Check the the site for testimonials. Thanks to its community, I also met a lot of like-minded and fun folks there who all helped me in numerous ways. 2022 is the most important year in my programming journey so far, and as weird as it sounds, a single framework was a key player in bringing that to life.
That's it for this article peeps! It was interesting to pour out my mind and reflect on a framework like Remix. Now I would add a disclaimer to my article; never get attached to a framework because it is so-and-so... instead, adopt it because of what it does. Even though the concept of Remix isn't new altogether, it was a first for me in terms of bringing all these great things under a single umbrella.
Like programming languages, all these frameworks are tools to achieve a specified objective. They don't necessarily dictate how your program would turn out. Ultimately, that's up to you and your approach to building software. So learning the fundamentals would help even with choosing what tools to use when building.
That's it for now, hope you enjoyed reading a piece of my mind. Enjoy yourself and have a blast! Keep learning, reading and playing! Till next time 👋
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