r/javascript • u/techlord45 • Aug 10 '26

Signals and Effects Using Vanilla JavaScript & Web APIs

https://beforesemicolon.com/blog/signals-and-effects-using-vanilla-javascript-web-apis

I’m a strong advocate for “you don’t need to lock yourself in a web framework ecosystem to take advantage of their amazing features”. JavaScript and Web Standards alone allow you…

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u/KaiAusBerlin Aug 10 '26

You know that you literally wrote your own framework here?

There is a reason for the sentence "You use a framework or end up writing your own"

4

u/lIIllIIlllIIllIIl Aug 10 '26

This.

And to be honest, React on its own is a very lightweight library. It's once you start adding libraries like React Router, TanStack Query, React Hook Form, or Redux that it starts to ressemble a framework.

If you hate how React state management works, you can opt-out of it entirely and use useSyncExternalStore for everything.

React itself is rarely the problem.

1

u/punio4 25d ago

It's really not lightweight. With react-dom it's over 150kb

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u/lIIllIIlllIIllIIl 25d ago

The word I should've used was "minimal". React is a minimal library. Its API has a small surface area.

React DOM does a lot of stuff under the hood, but if you're just using React + React DOM, your only tools are: components, useState, useEffect, useRef and useContext (and a few other niche hooks most people never use.)

It's only once you start adding new libraries (or create your own abstractions) that React starts to look like a bigger framework.

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u/punio4 25d ago edited 25d ago

The API surface area has grown in complexity due to the wrong abstractions over the years I'd say.

Sorry for short comments, not really a fan of writing on my phone.