I’ve all the time like Jeremy’s categorization of developer instruments:
I’ve talked about two classes of instruments for internet growth. I nonetheless don’t know fairly what to name these classes. Inside and exterior? Developer-facing and user-facing?
The primary class covers issues like construct instruments, model management, transpilers, pre-processers, and linters. These are instruments that stay in your machine—or on the server—taking what you’ve written and reworking it into the uncooked supplies of the online: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
The second class of instruments are these which are made from the uncooked supplies of the online: CSS frameworks and JavaScript libraries.
It’s a great way to consider issues. There may be nuance although, naturally. Sass is the primary class since Sass by no means goes to customers, it solely makes CSS that goes to customers. However it will probably nonetheless have an effect on customers as a result of it may make CSS that’s bigger or smaller primarily based on how you utilize it.
Jeremy mentions Svelte as a library the place the aim is basically compiling as a lot of itself away as it will probably earlier than code goes to customers. Some JavaScript remains to be there, however it doesn’t embrace the overhead of a developer-facing API. The nuance right here is that Svelte can be utilized in such a method that every one JavaScript is eliminated totally. For instance, SvelteKit can flip off it’s hydration totally and do pre-rendering of pages, making a website that totally JavaScript-free (or not less than solely opting in to it the place you ask for it).
On React:
I do know there are methods of getting React to behave extra like a class one device, however it’s most positively not the default behaviour. And default behaviour actually, actually issues. For React, the default behaviour is to imagine all of the code you write—and the device you utilize to put in writing it—can be despatched over the wire to finish customers.
I believe that’s truthful to say, however it additionally looks like the story is slowly beginning to change. I’d assume widespread utilization is much off, however Server Elements appear notable right here as a result of they’re coming from the React workforce itself, identical to SvelteKit is from the Svelte workforce itself.
And on Astro:
[…] in contrast to Svelte, Astro lets you use the identical syntax because the incumbent, React. So should you’ve realized React—as a result of that’s what you wanted to study to get a job—you don’t must study a brand new syntax in an effort to use Astro.I do know you in all probability can’t take an present React website and convert it to Astro with the flip of a swap, however not less than there’s a transparent improve path.
This isn’t simply theoretically true, it’s demonstrably true!
I simply transformed our little serverless microsite from Gatsby to Astro. Gastby is React-based, so all of the componentry is already constructed as React parts. The Pull Request is messy however it’s right here. I transformed a few of it to .astro information, however left numerous the componentry largely untouched as .jsx React parts. However React doesn’t ship on the positioning to customers. JavaScript is nearly totally faraway from the positioning, save for some hand-written vanilla JavaScript for very gentle interactivity.
So there may be some coin-flipping stuff taking place right here. Coin merging? Astro to me feels very very similar to a developer-facing device. It helps me. It makes use of the Vite compiler and is tremendous quick and nice to work with (Astro has tough edges, for positive, because it’s pre 1.0, however the DX is essentially there). It scopes my kinds. It lets me write SCSS. It lets me write parts (in lots of totally different frameworks). But it surely additionally helps the person right here. No extra JavaScript bundle on the positioning in any respect.
I assume which means Astro doesn’t change the classes—it’s a developer-facing device. It simply occurs to take what could be a user-facing device (even Svelte) and makes them nearly totally developer-facing.
And simply because I’ve had a few different Astro hyperlinks burning a gap in my pocket, Flavio has an excellent intro tutorial and right here’s Drew McLellan and Matthew Phillips chatting Astro on a latest Smashing Podcast.
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