Top JavaScript Trends for 2021 and Beyond

JavaScript has been rising in popularity with each passing day. In this article, we take a look at some of the top JavaScript trends that are likely to dominate 2021 and the coming years.

Top JavaScript Trends for 2021 and Beyond

Everything related to JavaScript is developing very quickly. This also applies to what can be attributed to the field of web development. These days, those whose projects are not based on the most modern technologies are beginning to feel especially strongly the gap between what they use and what is new, which appears almost daily. Such technologies include Webpack, React, Jest, Vue, and Angular in their current state. While the “population” of the world of frontend development, including technical specialists and programmers, is constantly growing, this world is striving for standardization. The emergence of new technologies and tools is already changing the situation.

It is safe to say that the general trend in the development of frontend technologies will be the standardization of user interface development. In particular, we are talking about a composition based on components, about the desire for modularity of systems. This trend affects almost everything — from styling to testing and even to managing the state of applications. In this trend, you can include technologies built around web components, ES modules, as well as the corresponding tools, and much more.

ES Modules and CDN

ES modules are a part of the ES6 standard that describes how to work with modules in the browser. Using this technology allows you to code some functionality in modules that can be loaded, for example, via CDN. After the release of Firefox 60, we can say that ES-modules supports all major browsers. Work on support for ES-modules is also underway in the environment Node.js. In addition, support for ES modules is expected to be added to WebAssembly.

GraphQL-API and Data-driven Client Applications

GraphQL technology and a component-based approach to development open up exciting opportunities for client-side web applications. For example, using Apollo, you can easily create UI components that work with data using GraphQL. There are many other tools that make it easier to work with GraphQL.

Using different APIs intelligently makes it easier to develop data-driven applications. This allows you to increase the speed of development. As a result, GraphQL is a technology that is worth paying attention to for those who are thinking about the future.

Web Components without Frameworks and Libraries

In general, we can say that a web component is the future for all web development. Why? The whole point here is that the systems in question are independent of the frameworks. This means that they can work both completely independently and together with any framework, taking into account its features regarding the presentation of the code. These systems are not characterized by what is called “JavaScript fatigue”. They are supported by modern browsers. Projects created using them include the optimal amount of auxiliary code. They effectively use the capabilities of VDOM.

The components in question are built using the Custom Elements standard. It allows you to create new HTML tags, fine-tune their properties-from the appearance, to the internal mechanisms and features of working with the Shadow DOM. Notable projects in this area are Lit-html (and Lit-element), StencilJS, SvelteJS, and Bit.

What should the principles of modularity, reuse, encapsulation, and standardization look like in the era of components? If you think about it, you need to look towards the future of UI development — it turns out that it is the web components that represent this future. We’ll come back to this idea later. In the meantime, let us talk about a useful framework in JS that deals with web components. Yes, we are talking about Vue.js — the perfect JavaScript framework for building web component libraries.

Vue

Released in 2014, but received a worldwide vocation only recently. First of all, it has gained popularity due to its simplicity and very low file size. Recent updates have helped significantly bypass React and Angular in many ways. But, objectively, this framework has not yet reached the level of the previous two.

Advantages:

• Small learning curve
• Easy setup
• Easy integration with elements of other programming languages

Disadvantages:

• A limited set of tools
• still a small community of users
• it evolves quickly (plus and minus at the same time: due to rapid development, many development examples may be outdated)
• Isolation, reuse, and component composition

When talking about frontend development and the components that make up user interfaces, we need to think about Bit.

What is Bit in Modular JS Development?

This open-source platform allows you to isolate components (or any fragments of JS code that are suitable for multiple uses) and turn them into building blocks that can be used in a variety of projects. At the same time, the developer can control the source code of the components, manage its changes and the full tree of its dependencies.

Simply put, thanks to Bit, the developer has the opportunity to improve their components within different projects and synchronize changes. Thanks to the bit.dev component hub, this idea extends to team development, allowing team members to organize code and share it.

The Bit Hub provides the developer with everything they need to create and use components together. For example-convenient search tools, an interactive environment where you can experiment with components, full CI/CD support.

Thanks to Bit, you can use not only components created by the efforts of your team but also open-source projects. This includes the ability to recommend changes to existing components, and the ability to share your developments.

Appraisal

In this article, we have presented before you some trends in client-side web development that are worth paying attention to if you want to be ready for the future. JavaScript is ever-rising in popularity, and if you haven’t done so already, you should strongly consider learning JS for your web apps.

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