Comment by 49531
4 years ago
Most frontend frameworks are not created to solve performance of vanilla web applications, but rather to make engineering larger and complex applications easier.
4 years ago
Most frontend frameworks are not created to solve performance of vanilla web applications, but rather to make engineering larger and complex applications easier.
Your comment reminds of the Facebook blog complaining that Apple couldn't handle their app's scale, and that's why it was so slow.
Most "larger and complex [frontend/client] applications" don't need to be as large and complex. By "most" I mean "almost all." In fact, I can't think of a single web application or mobile app I've used that can justify all the terribly complex garbage that goes into many of them.
The complexity of many applications does not come from the client-facing features but rather from other business requirements.
For example, interaction analytics, A/B testing support, targeted updates, predictive caching, obfuscation and security, etc. For large companies, setting up the code base so new junior employees can start making contributions fast is also important and that adds to the total complexity too.
It's so much simpler to build an app if all you needed to do is get the minimum features done.
Yeah, not really. I've worked at some big companies, and currently at one you almost certainly have heard about in the news. The features you describe don't justify the complexity of these apps. Usually these features are implemented without any real consideration for the overall architecture, independently, and within a bubble such that the engineers and PMs on the project locally maximize the feature's complexity. Then it cascades when the feature is integrated into the rest of the app.
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