Created in 1995, JavaScript remains one of the most popular languages, constantly vying with Python and C for the title of “most in-demand programming language.”

JavaScript's continued dominance in the space can be explained by its ubiquity. It's supported by most browsers, which makes it popular among programmers.

As a result, an estimated 94,5% of websites currently run on JavaScript. In other words, if you've spent any time on the Internet, you've come across JavaScript countless times in one form or another. And if you're a developer, chances are you already know JS as a handy language, ideally suited to  frontend and backend development.

JS supports functional, imperative, and event-driven programming styles, which ultimately contributes to the language's resilience.

What Are “JavaScript Frameworks,” and Where Are They Used?

Another reason for JavaScript's lasting popularity is its wide range of libraries and frameworks. Thanks to them, applications can be built faster and with fewer headaches.

Before we delve into JavaScript frameworks, let's define software frameworks. A software framework is a platform that gives developers a foundation for building software.

It offers common features that can be customized by making changes to existing code. Essentially, it's a set of templates designed to help you get through the development process quickly and reduce the likelihood of human error.

JavaScript frameworks work on the same principle as regular software frameworks. They're usually defined as collections of JavaScript code libraries that provide developers with pre-written code they can use to save time when programming routine tasks and functions, offering a template for commonly used components.

Though this is far from an exhaustive list, we'll look at three of the most popular JavaScript frameworks and compare how they differ from one another.


The Best JavaScript Frameworks

Senior Angular

Angular is the oldest JavaScript framework on this list, developed by Google in 2009. It can boast one of the largest libraries (supported by more than 1500 GitHub contributors) used by developers, making it an ideal platform for developers. Formerly known as AngularJS, Angular was rewritten in 2016 and is now used to power Google tools like Google Docs and Gmail.

It's lighter and faster than its predecessor because its functionality has been moved into several modules (compared to monolithic AngularJS), and it uses TypeScript instead of “traditional” JavaScript, giving it an extra +100 in reliability for large, sprawling software solutions.

Mr. React  

React is one of the most popular areas of JavaScript development, often compared with Angular (and sometimes with Vue). It's an open-source JS framework first introduced by Facebook in 2013 to create a framework that lets developers quickly build working applications and scale them. Although Angular and other technologies were already available when Facebook launched ReactJS, developers using existing frameworks typically spent most of their working time writing code by hand.

The creators of React set out to solve this problem by creating a solution that was more flexible and easier to use than Angular. The framework follows a component-based architecture designed to simplify problem-solving by breaking it into more manageable subtasks. And instead of TypeScript, React uses a unique syntax called JSX, a templating language that lets you write HTML inside JavaScript, allowing developers to compose each component more efficiently.

Baby Vue

When talking about the big players in JavaScript frameworks, we certainly couldn't have the conversation without Vue. Vue is, of course, a newcomer to the development world when lined up against Angular and React, but it puts up a strong fight.

Vue is a progressive JavaScript framework designed to build frontend web interfaces, first released by Evan You in 2014 after he had extensively used Angular while working at Google. The goal was to create a JS framework with all the benefits of Angular, but lighter and easier to use. In the end, the result had a lot in common with React, while offering some unique advantages you won't find in Facebook's framework.

The framework offers an Angular-like templating style; it also provides the component-based blocks characteristic of React. Vue offers a quick and easy fix for UI, application, and interactive web-interface development, and can even work with advanced single-page web applications. Vue's main advantage over React is that it automatically tracks dependencies between components during rendering.

In turn, this means the system automatically knows which components need to be re-rendered whenever the state changes. The advantage here is that developers can save a ton of time by cutting out the extra steps needed for optimization, allowing them to focus on providing the best possible solution.

Choosing a JavaScript Framework for Your Project

Although any of the three JavaScript frameworks described above is a solid option for developing interactive web applications, it's important to understand the differences between them before your project gets underway, since each framework is better suited to different types of projects.

A few factors to consider:

Developers' Knowledge and Experience

Does your team have experience with the framework you'd like to use? If not, consider whether it makes sense to hire an outside developer or use a different framework.

Project Size and Scope

Lightweight JavaScript frameworks like React and Vue are great for working with small projects or individual components. However, despite its steeper learning curve, Angular may be a better choice for large projects. Unlike React (which is more of a library for building interfaces), Angular provides a comprehensive toolkit for building complex applications for both mobile devices and computers.

Developer Community

Does the framework offer a supportive community? Resources? Access to help if you run into a problem? Data binding. Data binding synchronizes data between the user interface and business logic. Angular uses both one-way and two-way data binding. This means that when changes are made to the code, updates are also reflected in the user interface. React uses one-way binding, which provides more stable code and makes bugs easier to fix.