Most active commenters

    ←back to thread

    The time is right for a DOM templating API

    (justinfagnani.com)
    218 points mdhb | 11 comments | 26 Jun 25 19:23 UTC | HN request time: 1.295s | source | bottom
    Show context
    pier25 ◴[26 Jun 25 22:40 UTC] No.44392178[source]▶
    The web really needs native templating, reactivity, and data binding.

    I can't even begin to imagine how much CPU and bandwidth is wasted with billions of users downloading, parsing, and executing something like React.

    replies(4): >>44392500 #>>44393120 #>>44393371 #>>44400323 #
    strix_varius ◴[27 Jun 25 01:50 UTC] No.44393120[source]▶
    With the TC39 signals proposal, part of that is making progress.
    replies(1): >>44393172 #
    1. CharlieDigital ◴[27 Jun 25 02:08 UTC] No.44393172[source]▶
    Except React.....
    replies(2): >>44393456 #>>44395794 #
    2. tacticus ◴[27 Jun 25 03:28 UTC] No.44393456[source]▶
    Was react ever about progress?
    replies(1): >>44394351 #
    3. nine_k ◴[27 Jun 25 06:58 UTC] No.44394351[source]▶
    If you valued your sanity when developing complex Web UIs, React was a lifesaver.

    DOM sucks though, it's slow, it's heavyweight, it lacks transactions. We're stuck with it, and frameworks like React have to do the DOM diffing + patching thing, explicitly, in JS.

    replies(2): >>44394509 #>>44396318 #
    4. youngtaff ◴[27 Jun 25 07:26 UTC] No.44394509{3}[source]▶
    React was a solution to a ten years ago problem
    replies(1): >>44395972 #
    5. agos ◴[27 Jun 25 11:09 UTC] No.44395794[source]▶
    if (when?) Signals become a standard, React will be in a tight corner if they decide to ignore them
    replies(1): >>44397630 #
    6. youngtaff ◴[27 Jun 25 11:39 UTC] No.44395972{4}[source]▶
    You can downvote it but it doesn’t make it any less true

    Alex Russell has written swathes of arguments about Reacts performance issues https://infrequently.org/2024/11/if-not-react-then-what/

    The DOM has become much faster since React started over a decade ago, the VDOM really isn’t needed anymore even for app like experiences

    React is about developer preference over user experience

    replies(1): >>44396325 #
    7. nchmy ◴[27 Jun 25 12:35 UTC] No.44396318{3}[source]▶
    Nah.

    https://svelte.dev/blog/virtual-dom-is-pure-overhead

    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43971164

    replies(1): >>44397821 #
    8. ch_sm ◴[27 Jun 25 12:37 UTC] No.44396325{5}[source]▶
    Agree that react isn’t the best implementation of the concept, both in terms of ergonomics and efficiency. But a react-like framework is still very much needed to create complex apps in the browser. So IMHO react is a solution to a very current problem, only not an ideal one.
    9. WorldMaker ◴[27 Jun 25 15:36 UTC] No.44397630[source]▶
    Not really? `useSignal` is just another hook React needs as a replacement/augment for `useState` and maybe `useEffect`. Signals aren't that special. Arguably that's part of why a lot of people like Signals as a proposal.

    (I'm still of the sort that thinks Signals are just worse Observables, so it's not a proposal I'm particularly thrilled about, but were it to be adopted Signals are easy to use in Observable contexts as well, they are just uglier half-implemented BehaviorSubjects, though maybe with a few extra lint rules to prefer Observable behaviors over Signal ones.)

    10. nine_k ◴[27 Jun 25 15:59 UTC] No.44397821{4}[source]▶
    React appeared in 2013, Svelte, in 2016. Three years is a lot. What comes next can see and avoid some pitfalls of earlier designs.
    replies(1): >>44399766 #
    11. nchmy ◴[27 Jun 25 19:56 UTC] No.44399766{5}[source]▶
    1. I'm referring to the comment that the DOM is slow/bad. It is not. Moreover, VDOM is ON TOP OF the DOM.

    2. We're currently living in 2025. React (and SPAs) is not even slightly necessary.