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by vorbiscuit 1004 days ago
I'm not a website programmer like most people here (I work mostly in C and ARM assembly) so can someone knowledgeable on this topic please explain what is the purpose and background of this?

Also, I don't really understand why it's at the top of HN either, is this a groundbreaking change to whatever Svelte is?

1 comments

jQuery changed the game for frontend web development. Instead of static pages on the browser, interactivity for the client-side proliferated because DX on top of jQuery was way better. Then they started cursing jQuery for its limitations.

Then came React -- which again changed the game for frontend web development. Instead of wonky scripts and targetting CSS classes, you get a modular and reactive approach in building the web. Then they started cursing React because of performance issues and implementation complexities.

Svelte was designed to behave like React but perform better and reduce the implementation complexities. I had the chance to work with Svelte 1 back then and as a React developer, it would really make you think "Why did React do that?".

This is probably on top of HN because people loved Svelte too -- but some followers are now questioning the direction as this change is gravitating towards solutions that React already implemented. As it happens, React did solve a lot of problems for the frontend, and they really nailed it.

Thank you for explaining.