Q&A

Allen Conway on Choosing Between Angular/React/Vue for Building a Modern Web Client App

• By David Ramel
• 05/10/2023

When getting started creating a modern web client application with TypeScript or JavaScript, developers must early on decide which framework or libraries to use from myriad options.

This is a crucial -- if not the crucial -- consideration, as it has a major impact on the long-term development of a company or project. So the importance of knowing how to make an informed decision on which path to choose can't be understated.

Which is why we have experts who live and breathe this stuff to help us choose which framework/libraries to use. One of those experts is Allen Conway, principal software engineer at Cognizant.

Conway will discuss the three main players in this space -- Angular, React and Vue -- and compare and contrast each offering at the upcoming Visual Studio Live! conference to be held July 17-21 at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash.

In a "Fast Focus" 20-minute session titled "JavaScript Framework/Library Showdown," attendees will learn:

• About the main frameworks and libraries for modern web client development
• About the main differences between Angular, React and Vue
• About what backing factors will help guide the way to making a good decision about the framework and library chosen

We caught up with Conway for a short Q&A on his presentation set for the morning of July 20, the fourth day of the big, in-person event.

VisualStudioMagazine: What are the main benefits and drawbacks of using Angular, React, and Vue for web client development?
Conway: On whole, each of these frameworks embrace the modern browser for allowing the development of rich web applications that are designed to complement a larger cloud-based, modernized solution. They all have maturity in the OSS community and yield terrific feature sets, performance and capabilities. If there is any main drawback, it's the focused requirement on requiring heavy JavaScript development experience and its ecosystem of libraries, which not all enterprises contain, and thus can create a learning curve in some instances.

What are some of the best practices and common pitfalls to avoid when using these frameworks and libraries?
A best practice to follow agnostic of the framework or library selected is to focus on building small, reusable and well-tested components.

This foundation will create a scalable and flexible web application to complement any modern full-stack solution. A common pitfall is to be permanently dedicated to any one of these frameworks and options without re-evaluating their strengths from time to time as being "just Angular" or "just React" indefinitely may have development teams missing out on new advancements in competing options.

How do these frameworks and libraries differ in terms of performance, scalability and maintainability?
Now all three of the major contenders in the web client JavaScript space have great maturity, offering excellent performance, scalability, maintainability, adoption and support. It was six or seven years ago when the volatility of this area was ever changing and maturity was mixed in regard with performance and features, but at the current date many Fortune 500 companies rely on these libraries and frameworks for their technology implementation.

What are some of the key features and concepts that each framework and library introduces or supports?
All frameworks and libraries have one central main focus, and that's building web components. These are the foundational building blocks of the comprehensive set of views that makes up a web application. With that said, fully fledged frameworks like Angular will also include an out-of-the-box solution for http calling, security, routing, building and testing, which allows immediate focus on building the application as opposed to building a framework. This isn't to say starting with just the component library is difficult, as both React and Vue are accompanied by well-known solutions to easily adopt for all of these needs as well.

How can developers choose the most suitable framework or library for their specific project needs and preferences?
A lot of how a framework or library is selected is dependent on a shop's experience and background. Often if the development team has previous experience in ASP.NET and concepts like dependency injection and MVC type patterns, a good place to start would be with Angular and TypeScript for the familiar aesthetic nature and flow of data. If the team is strong in JavaScript development and looking to use JS full-stack, the maturity of React and React-based server-side Node.js implementations may be a good way to proceed. The main thing is you can always do a small proof-of-concept and try out the different framework and libraries to see which one works best.

Should we ever consider using a mostly non-JavaScript-based solution like Blazor?
Yes! If a development team's primary experience has been with the .NET stack, and it has not journeyed into the world of JavaScript web client development yet, or did it reluctantly, you now have options to stay with a familiar full-stack C# solution with Blazor! This isn't to say a JavaScript library or framework can't be used, but it adds variety to allow the team to use the toolset they feel will be most familiar and productive to create rich web, hybrid, or even native solutions all with a similar technology stack.

Those wanting to attend Conway's session should note that attendees who register for the VSLive! event by May 19 can save up to $400, according to the event pricing page.