These are all fair points. Web development is vastly different than five years ago when React was becoming wildly popular. Some people may take this personally because of how invested they are in the React ecosystem, but that doesn't mean the most popular JavaScript library doesn't deserve this kind of criticism.
I would like to extrapolate on #4 because this seems to be encoded in the DNA of Facebook. "Move fast and break things" is their famous motto. Facebook has almost singlehandedly destroyed any notion of egalitarianism on the internet. The internet was originally created in order to share things and I'm sure that didn't necessarily mean everything about our lives. The internet I grew up with in the 90s was a vastly different space. Anyone could learn html. The barrier to entry has become too great. jQuery simplified things while React made them way more complicated. The level of tooling needing to bootstrap a React application is way too much. The methods used to code React applications have changed dramatically over time. It's fitting the library distributed by Facebook is as disruptive to the web development community as the company is to everyone on Earth.
Is the disruption React caused really a good thing? Perhaps. What web engineers should be excited about in my opinion are other libraries that are a response, web standards that have evolved over time that essentially replace or outperform React.
I think it's fantastic how you framed #2. Web engineers should have more empathy for the end user.
React is just a tool, like any other. If you prefer React then go for it. Every JavaScript framework or library has advantages, teams using any tool find ways to create technical debt.
These are all fair points. Web development is vastly different than five years ago when React was becoming wildly popular. Some people may take this personally because of how invested they are in the React ecosystem, but that doesn't mean the most popular JavaScript library doesn't deserve this kind of criticism.
I would like to extrapolate on #4 because this seems to be encoded in the DNA of Facebook. "Move fast and break things" is their famous motto. Facebook has almost singlehandedly destroyed any notion of egalitarianism on the internet. The internet was originally created in order to share things and I'm sure that didn't necessarily mean everything about our lives. The internet I grew up with in the 90s was a vastly different space. Anyone could learn html. The barrier to entry has become too great. jQuery simplified things while React made them way more complicated. The level of tooling needing to bootstrap a React application is way too much. The methods used to code React applications have changed dramatically over time. It's fitting the library distributed by Facebook is as disruptive to the web development community as the company is to everyone on Earth.
Is the disruption React caused really a good thing? Perhaps. What web engineers should be excited about in my opinion are other libraries that are a response, web standards that have evolved over time that essentially replace or outperform React.
I think it's fantastic how you framed #2. Web engineers should have more empathy for the end user.
React is just a tool, like any other. If you prefer React then go for it. Every JavaScript framework or library has advantages, teams using any tool find ways to create technical debt.
@steve
After reading all of these comments, I liked the one you have described. Others are just trying to win over other's opinions
👍
Exactly my thoughts. Thanks for a great read.