[nickdandakis]

Sometimes frontend developers overengineer their solutions, yes.

Sometimes you need a more complicated solution for a complicated set of requirements.

Do you need GraphQL? Nope!

Do you need GraphQL for an application that needs to fetch a lot of highly relational data with nested objects? No, but it sure would be more optimal to just ask for what you need in one request in the shape you expect, instead of either:

a) Multiple REST API calls that you need to combine and coordinate in the frontend

b) A specialized REST API call that gives you all the data you need in the shape you want, but it isn't very RESTful

c) A REST API call with a bunch of `with[]` params (a la Laravel) that indicate what nested objects you'd like, but not their exact shape

So, which is more maintainable then?

—

The other wild misconception I see time and time again is this:

Of the five things you mentioned "React/Redux/Graphql/hooks/bazillion-libs", only the first one is React, and the second-to-last (Hooks) of which it is optional.

The rest are dependencies you opt for, hopefully after weighing pros and cons. You don't need to use Redux, GraphQL, react-table, whatever other dependency in your React web application.

Please separate out React from React-based codebases from code architecture. They're not one in the same.

[Grzegrzolka]

I just don't buy this idea that there is some kind of separation between React library and React as a platform. I'm building SPAs since 2008, been to too many front-end meetups, have friends in so many different companies its hard to count. NOBODY is using React as a library. Banks, shops, news sites, you name it, everyone is using React+Redux+Typescript+bazilion-libs. Graphql is not a standard yet but it is already very popular, basically every new hired Dev adds new libs or switches to something else. It's a mess.

[nickdandakis]

The thing is, I don't disagree that a large (if not majority) number of developers reach for dependencies by default, instead of carefully considering patterns first.

I don't think bundling React the view library, Redux the state management library, Typescript the Javascript superset, GraphQL the API query language, Webpack the bundler as one "React the platform" is helpful.

I'd like to see the developers that automatically merge all of these technologies together by default because everyone else does it (or worse, because X Big Tech Co does it) to start questioning and exploring other options. I'm not sure how to get there, and maybe my comment above is my contribution towards convincing readers to reconsider their understanding of the React ecosystem.

You're right though, it is a mess. I think the mess comes from people and how they code, not so much this specific library nor the language.

[mattacular]

These new frameworks and things like "create-react-app" have made it easier and easier for junior developers to make immensely complicated apps with immensely complicated tool chains. I think that has a lot to do with how things have gotten to the point described in your comment and many of the others. As you start reading tutorials about Vue or React they tend to quickly stray into other dependencies, and webpack or whatever. The web has gotten more complex. The only way to navigate it wisely is to become wise through experience. There are no shortcuts but we've definitely made it easier for new developers to stumble into a mess.