Top 5 JavaScript Frameworks to Learn

If you’ve spent any time working with JavaScript, you’ll know there are a lot of frameworks available for you. React.js, Vue.js, and Angular are three examples of the hundreds of other options.

Having access to a wide range of frameworks is great because you have more choice, but picking the right ones to learn can be intimidating. After all, not all frameworks were created equal, so you need to know which one fits best for you.

To help you better understand which JavaScript frameworks are out there – and help decide which ones are worth your time – we’ve compiled a list of the top five JavaScript frameworks to learn.

What Is a JavaScript Framework?

A JavaScript framework is a collection of code libraries that give you the ability to implement common programming features into your websites.

Consider building a house. When you build one, instead of starting everything from scratch, you would typically rely on blueprints and kits before kicking off construction. One blueprint would set out how the living room should be structured and another may define the scaffolding you would need to build the house.

The blueprints and kits you use to build a house are similar to how JavaScript frameworks impact the software development process. When you build a site, while you can code everything from scratch, doing so is time-consuming and usually impractical. So instead of building a site from the ground up, you can rely on a kit that has already written the code for some of the features you want to add to your site.

So-called “vanilla” JavaScript provides the basic functions you need to add interactive features to a website. But if you want to add something, like a dropdown menu with an advanced design, you may want to rely on templates so you don’t have to code the entire menu from scratch.

Top 5 JavaScript Frameworks

Now you know about the concept of a JavaScript framework, let’s discuss the top five JavaScript frameworks.

At the time of this writing, the five most commonly used JavaScript frameworks are:

• React
• Vue
• Angular
• Backbone
• Ember

These frameworks provide you with “blueprints” that you can use to build your applications. To illustrate their popularity, consider this graph:

According to npm trends, which tracks the popularity of packages on the package manager npm, React.js is the most popular framework, followed by Vue, Backbone, Angular, then Ember.

Let’s break down each of these frameworks and discuss their main features and how they can be used in your JavaScript applications.

React

There is no doubt behind the fact that React is the most popular JavaScript framework in the world. The framework may have only been launched in 2013, but since then it has amassed a massive developer community and inspired new techniques used in front-end web development today.

The React framework uses a reactive approach and embraces the principles of functional programming. This means the framework uses data streams like events, messages, and calls to communicate data.

A React-based application contains different components, which you can think of as the building blocks of an application. One component may be used to render a list on a web page and another may display a dropdown menu. The component development approach allows you to create reusable blocks of code that combine HTML and JavaScript.

One of the major benefits of React is its flexibility. The language uses a component-based architecture called JSX, which gives you control over how content appears on a web page. In addition, the React ecosystem has invested heavily in building additional tools that make React even more powerful. As a result, there is no shortage of plugins to enhance your applications.

The React project is maintained by Facebook and the popularity it has received over the last few years means that there is plenty of documentation and tutorials out there that you can use to master the framework. In addition, React also pairs with a framework called React Native, which allows you to use React for developing mobile applications.

For beginners to JavaScript frameworks, who are looking for something flexible with a good learning curve, React is definitely worth a look.

Vue

The Vue framework was built upon many of the principles that made React and Angular great.

For instance, Vue uses a similar approach to components as React, which reduces the need to include large stylesheets in your projects. Vue also uses props and state, two core React features, to manage the data flow in applications. Similarly, Vue uses a syntax like Angular to combine HTML and JavaScript on a webpage.

One of the biggest reasons to learn Vue is that the framework does not come with a build step. Unlike frameworks like React, you don’t need to use additional tools to build a powerful application using Vue. All you need to do is use a script tag and point to the latest Vue release to use it in your applications.

That’s not all, Vue also comes with an efficient command-line interface, which makes it easy to manage the development of your applications. Vue also has a strong ecosystem of third-party libraries to give you more features for your applications. For example, the Vuex library exists for state management.

Vue is also seen by developers to be beginner-friendly. This is likely because it is built with React and Angular in mind, which means that the developers have taken into account the deficiencies of these frameworks in crafting Vue. Vue’s developer community is also strong and so you should have no trouble finding high-quality framework documentation.

Angular

Angular, initially built by Google and launched in 2012, is a JavaScript framework that allows you to build mobile and desktop web applications.

The Angular framework was built based on the Model-View-Controller (MVC) concept, although the authors of the framework have often referred to it as “Model-View-Whatever”, which refers to the flexibility of the framework.

Today, Angular embraces a component-based architecture, which has created a more modular development environment. This means when you build an Angular application, you can break up your site into components, such as a menu bar or a footer. Then, the logic for each of these components is written in separate files while another file determines the layout of the page.

One of the main reasons Angular became popular was that it makes effectively structuring your code easy. When you use Angular to its fullest effect, there is usually no barrage of classes and methods that you need to worry about maintaining. Angular’s component structure is simple, easy to navigate, and makes it easy to debug and test your code.

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There are two main versions of Angular. The first version, Angular, used the MVC architecture we spoke about earlier. The second version, which is now incredibly popular, uses the new component-based architecture. While Angular is not perfect – for instance, you almost need to use TypeScript to use all the features in Angular – it is still a great framework for building powerful web applications.

Backbone

Backbone.js, or simply Backbone, is a JavaScript framework that allows you to effectively structure your web applications using the MVC architecture.

The main advantage of the Backbone framework is that it syncs well with the back-end of a web application. Without having to integrate any external libraries, you can use Backbone to easily interact with RESTful APIs, which is a crucial part of developing modern web applications.

In addition, Backbone offers event-driven communication between models and views, which allows you to be more precise when sharing data between parts of an application.

The Backbone framework is often used to develop Single Page Applications (SPAs), given its lightweight nature and versatility.

However, if you want to build a larger-scale application, Backbone has a number of deficiencies. Perhaps the main one is that Backbone typically needs to be used with other technologies, like Handlebars, Thorax, or Mustache, to reach its potential. So, while Backbone may come with a number of out-of-the-box features, there’s more learning required if you want to build more advanced applications.

Ember

Ember.js is a framework built on the value of completing tasks.

The Ember.js framework is said to “help developers be more productive out of the box”. The framework was designed with the developer experience in mind, which has resulted in features that make the framework particularly powerful.

Ember allows you to use a component-based architecture in your applications similar to Angular and React and many frameworks have borrowed features from Ember over the years.

One of the drawbacks associated with Ember is that the framework can be difficult to learn, especially if you have no experience working with JavaScript. While Ember does use the MVC architecture, how it is implemented is specific, which means that there are several conventions you need to learn before you can work with ember.

With that said, Ember does come with several advantages. First, Ember has adopted many built-in best practices which allow you to write high-quality code without having to worry about learning a list of best practices. This is a direct result of the active developer community that surrounds Ember, who actively works to make using the framework a pleasurable experience for developers.

Also, Ember has a strong command-line interface that makes it easy to not only create new projects, but also generate components, views, and other parts of your web application. Angular’s command-line interface was based on Ember’s.

If you’re looking to build complex and scalable client-side apps, Ember is a great choice.

Which Framework Should I Learn?

You may be thinking: “You’ve just walked through a list of frameworks, but which of them should I learn?” That’s a great question!

The answer is that it’s up to you which framework you want to learn. The one you choose should be based on your unique needs and long-term goals.

React is a popular choice among beginners to JavaScript frameworks due to its simplicity and ubiquity. Many apps use React so there is a massive developer community ready to support you. But if you’re looking to do more client-side work, Vue may be worth a look; Ember is great for advanced client-side apps; Backbone and Angular are great for developing powerful web apps, too.

Whatever framework you choose, knowing how to use it effectively will afford you many benefits. After learning JavaScript, it is important to gain a deeper understanding of its frameworks to help speed up your development process, thereby allowing you to develop applications more efficiently. Second, knowing how to use a JavaScript framework could help you with your job search if you’re looking to become a web developer.