React is winning by default and slowing innovation

Post by slmjkdbtl » Tue, Sep 16, 2025, 2:54 PM UTC

Izkata wrote: post #637

slmjkdbtl wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on how they are run they are completely not just ordinary JavaScript functions, hook era components are also not just JavaScript functions, it's a very complicated system. React calling them "just functions" is untrue, just marketing buzz words, and it leads developers into traps.

> React calling them "just functions" is untrue I'm pretty sure this is also untrue. AFAIK React has never used that phrase (and at the very least, I can't find it anywhere official right now), it came from other people convincing newcomers that hooks aren't something more complicated like objects (comparing to class-based components). React has always treated them as special functions, hence always prefixing them wi…

Post by michaelcampbell » Tue, Sep 16, 2025, 2:55 PM UTC

bastawhiz wrote: post #612

mike_hearn wrote: post #499

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So JSX is pure Javascript and not, say, a dialect of XML embedded in JS? Because it sure looks like the former even though it compiles to the latter. React isn't Javascript. It's a franken-language that looks superficially like a mix of JavaScript and XML whilst following the rules of neither. That's why there is such a thing as a React compiler - a good sign that you're not writing JS, which doesn't have compilers.…

JSX isn't and hasn't even been necessary to use React. The first version of my company's site didn't have a build step and called createElement manually. And in the decade I've been writing for React, I've never used the React compiler. But saying that it's proof that it's not JavaScript it's like saying that V8 is proof that JavaScript is too complicated because otherwise it would be fast enough not to need a JIT. A…

Post by unconed » Tue, Sep 16, 2025, 2:58 PM UTC

mike_hearn wrote: post #499

gloosx wrote: post #472

React isn’t just "winning by default" It's winning because at the core it's just JavaScript function composition. A component is a function, conditionals are `if (...) { ... } else { ... }`, loops are `map()`. JSX is just sugar for function calls. In Svelte you are writing XML with little JavaScript islands inside it. Instead of if you get `{#if}{:else}{/if}`. Thats not "ergonomic" – thats a mini-language stapled on…

So JSX is pure Javascript and not, say, a dialect of XML embedded in JS? Because it sure looks like the former even though it compiles to the latter. React isn't Javascript. It's a franken-language that looks superficially like a mix of JavaScript and XML whilst following the rules of neither. That's why there is such a thing as a React compiler - a good sign that you're not writing JS, which doesn't have compilers.…

Post by eYrKEC2 » Tue, Sep 16, 2025, 3:00 PM UTC

klysm wrote: post #187

If something innovates enough to be a lot better than react then it will start winning. I haven’t seen anything yet

Post by hbrn » Tue, Sep 16, 2025, 3:15 PM UTC

gloosx wrote: post #472

React isn’t just "winning by default" It's winning because at the core it's just JavaScript function composition. A component is a function, conditionals are `if (...) { ... } else { ... }`, loops are `map()`. JSX is just sugar for function calls. In Svelte you are writing XML with little JavaScript islands inside it. Instead of if you get `{#if}{:else}{/if}`. Thats not "ergonomic" – thats a mini-language stapled on…

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