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Should I use Vue or React or Angular?

Published by Solomon Eseme's profile picture Solomon Eseme on  Fri, 05 May 2023 15:30:00 GMT

When it comes to building modern web applications, developers are spoiled for choice with the number of frontend frameworks available.

Sometimes, it gets overwhelming to choose one from the array of frontend frameworks available. If you’re in this state right now. You’re not alone. I have been there too.

Let’s start by eliminating others and focusing on the main and most popular frontend frameworks.

Three of the most popular frameworks are Vue.js, React, and Angular. Each framework has its own strengths and weaknesses, and choosing the right one for your project can be a challenge.

In this article, we will compare Vue, React, and Angular and discuss why Vue stands out among them.

Overview of Vue.js

Vue was created by Evan You in 2014, with the goal of providing a lightweight and flexible framework for building complex web applications. React was released by Facebook in 2013, and Angular is a Google-backed framework that has been around since 2010.

You can read more about Vue.js in this article.

Comparison of Vue, React, and Angular

Let’s get down to the battleground by comparing each of these frameworks based on my personal opinions.

Syntax and Learning Curve

One of the most significant differences between these frameworks is their syntax and learning curve.

React and Angular both have a steeper learning curve than Vue because they require more boilerplate code and have a more complex architecture.

Vue, on the other hand, has a simpler syntax that is easy to learn, even for developers who are new to frontend development. Vue's template syntax is also very similar to HTML, which makes it easier to read and understand.

Component-Based Architecture

All three frameworks use a component-based architecture, which makes it easier to build reusable UI components. However, Vue's single-file component system makes it easier to manage the template, logic, and styling of each component in one file.

Performance

Performance is always a concern when it comes to web applications. React and Vue are both known for their fast performance and small size, while Angular is often criticized for its larger size and slower performance.

Community and Ecosystem

React and Vue both have large and growing communities with a wide range of libraries and tools available. Angular also has a large community, but it has not grown as quickly as React and Vue.

Tooling and Development Experience

All three frameworks have a range of tools and libraries available to improve the development experience. React and Vue both have extensive libraries for state management, routing, and testing, while Angular includes these features as part of its core framework.

Why Vue Stands Out

Here are the reasons why I love Vue and why it stands out for me. Some of these reasons are the same reason why big tech companies such as Alibaba, Grammarly, and Xiaomi use Vue in their enterprise and production-ready applications.

Easy to Learn and Use

Vue's simple syntax and easy-to-understand concepts make it a great choice for beginners. Its approachable learning curve makes it easy to pick up and start building applications quickly.

Flexible and Lightweight

Vue's small size and modular architecture make it a flexible choice for building applications of any size. Unlike Angular, Vue does not require developers to follow a strict architecture, which makes it easier to adapt to changing project requirements.

Performance

Vue's fast performance and small size make it an excellent choice for building high-performance applications. Vue uses a virtual DOM, which makes it more efficient at updating the DOM compared to other frameworks.

Large and Growing Community

Vue's growing community has resulted in a rich ecosystem of libraries, tools, and plugins that make development faster and more efficient. The community is also very active and responsive, which means that developers can get help quickly when they encounter problems.

Rich Ecosystem and Tooling

Vue's ecosystem of tools and plugins is one of its biggest strengths.

Vuex is a state management library for Vue that makes it easy to manage the state of a large application.

Vue Router is a routing library that makes it easy to build complex client-side routing.

Other plugins and libraries are available for Vue include Vuetify, Quasar, and Element UI, which provide pre-built UI components and styles.

Case Studies of Companies That Use Vue.js

Several large companies use Vue.js for their web applications. Here are a few examples:

Alibaba

Alibaba, one of the world's largest e-commerce companies, uses Vue.js for its frontend web applications. Vue's flexibility and performance were two key factors that led to its adoption by Alibaba.

Xiaomi

Xiaomi, a major Chinese smartphone manufacturer, uses Vue.js for its web applications. Vue's simple syntax and easy-to-learn concepts were two key factors that led to its adoption by Xiaomi.

Grammarly

Grammarly, a popular writing assistant tool, uses Vue.js for its web applications. Vue's performance and small size were two key factors that led to its adoption by Grammarly.

Conclusion

When it comes to choosing a frontend framework for your web application, there are many factors to consider. Vue, React, and Angular are all popular and powerful frameworks, but Vue stands out in several key areas.

Vue's easy-to-learn syntax, flexible architecture, fast performance, large and growing community, and rich ecosystem of tools and plugins make it an excellent choice for building modern web applications.

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