Diversity or Chaos of Web Development Frameworks in 2023
With extremely fast pace, the world of web development is constantly evolving, back in the day there were few PHP frameworks and lets not forget Ruby on Rails, but since the time of introduction of HTML5 (the living language standard), CSS3 and the popularity of JavaScript, the number of available web development frameworks growth exponentially. Here are some rough number – around 40 PHP frameworks and over 100 JavaScript framework, this doesn’t look like diversity, but pure chaos. For sure those frameworks have their strength and weaknesses and different purposes, which suits to to particular web development project, but should a developer try to learn all? It is difficult to keep up with this and my personal advice is to stick with the good programing principles of the programming language behind the framework.
Competition has its benefits and each one strive to be more efficient, more functional and easy to work with, or being more oriented to search engine optimization. This gives certain options to web developers, unless they look for a new job, where they are asked about experience in particular framework…
Learning a framework is fairly easy (if there is a good documentation), but very difficult to master. I remember one recent example of complete revamp on Next.js framework, that lead to relearning it from scratch from v10 to v13, evolution makes it difficult to keep up. That’s why, it is important to understand the basic principles of web development, regardless of the framework you are using and my personal tip is to understand the basic principles of SEO. Things you need to understand well MVC architecture, data modeling, and least by not last web security.
The variety leads to difficulty to choose which is the right one for particular projects and the “fan clubs” and bias in development world can lead to a wrong choice in the first steps of web development. Factors to consider when making this decision, such as the project’s requirements, hardware requirement, the team’s skills, how to scale the project and of course the budget. Sometimes you don’t have to chose, when you get hired in the mid of the project…
Sure, there are challenges, but let’s be positive and call this opportunities. Recently I had conversations with one of my student, she was quite confused asking me how many frameworks she needs to learn, my answer was simple – stick with the good principles of programming, learn the language well, then all frameworks will be a breeze. Perhaps this is a bit old school tip of me, but I think this will work the best for most.
Innovations drive evolution in web development and this is a good thing for everybody, but picking the right one for your project is essential.
The Programming Principles The Every Developer Should Know
Knowing and understanding the programming principles can help you a lot with web development, but keep in mind that web development principles also play its role. To write a better code, requires a lot of practice and especially during the time you learn the programming language.
Most important programming principles include:
- Document your code: This generally separates a newbie from seasoned web developer
- KISS Principle: Keep your code simple
- Write DRY Code: or “Don’t Repeat Yourself”, don’t copy and paste same code, find algorithm
- Abstraction: Simplifying complex systems or concepts and make it easier to work with
- Encapsulation: Encapsulation is the practice of grouping related data and methods together. This makes code more organized and easier to understand.
- Inheritance: Inheritance is the process of one class inheriting the properties and methods of another class. This allows developers to reuse code and avoid duplication.
- Polymorphism: Write code that can handle different types of data or requests without repeating logic or hard-coding. This allows developers to write reusable and flexible code.
Writing readable, maintainable, reusable and documented code is essential in web development world. This can lead to better-designed and more efficient web applications.
The Basics of the Programming Languages on Which Those Frameworks Are Based
Let’s start with the cliche – it is easy to write code, but it is very difficult to write a good code. Good programming start with the basics, it is also important to understand the basics of the programming languages and then jump to the frameworks. In simple terms framework is built on top of the language, and the language will dictate how the framework works.
For instance, React is a JavaScript framework, so it is essential to know the basics of JavaScript in order to work with React efficiently and effectively. Exactly the same is with Laravel which is PHP based, so it is important to understand the basics of PHP in order to use Laravel effectively.
By understanding the basics of the programming languages together with the principles of good programming and reusable code , developers can use the frameworks more effectively. Without this troubleshooting, debugging and refactoring the code are impossible.
Conclusion
The variety of web development frameworks in 2023 is a challenge even for seasoned web developers, but it is also an opportunity. Stick to the basic principles of web development and concentrate on the programming languages on which those frameworks are based, writing a better code start with “A and B” not with “Y and Z”.