Revolutionizing React: A High School Student’s Innovation That Made React A Million Times Faster

NapSaga
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4 min readJun 12, 2023

The world of JavaScript libraries is vast and diverse, with each library offering unique features and benefits. Among these libraries, ReactJS has long been a popular choice for developers.

However, a new contender, Million.js, is gaining traction for its impressive performance and minimalistic approach.

This article provides a comprehensive comparison of these two libraries, focusing on their performance, size, and use cases.

ReactJS: The Established Giant

ReactJS, developed by Facebook, is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces, particularly single-page applications where you need a fast response time.

It’s known for its efficiency and flexibility, thanks to its use of a virtual DOM and component-based architecture.

ReactJS allows developers to create large web applications that can update and render efficiently without requiring the page to reload. The core objective of ReactJS is to provide the best possible rendering performance. Its strength comes from the focus on individual components.

Instead of working on the entire web app, ReactJS allows a developer to break down the complex UI into simpler components.

Million.js: The New Contender

Million.js is a newer library that aims to provide a similar interface to React but at a fraction of the size. It’s incredibly lightweight, coming in at just around 1KB gzipped. Despite its small size, Million.js offers a powerful and flexible API for creating web interfaces.

It is designed to be a direct competitor to React, offering a similar API but with a focus on performance and size. It achieves this by implementing a highly efficient diffing algorithm and by avoiding the use of a virtual DOM, which can add significant overhead in terms of both size and performance.

Performance Comparison

When it comes to performance, both libraries excel, but in different ways. React’s virtual DOM allows it to make minimal updates to the actual DOM, resulting in smoother and faster updates. However, the overhead of managing the virtual DOM can slow down initial render times and use more memory.

On the other hand, Million.js, by avoiding the use of a virtual DOM and focusing on a lean core, can offer faster initial render times and lower memory usage. However, it may require more work to optimize updates, as it doesn’t have the virtual DOM’s diffing and batching capabilities.

In terms of size, Million.js is the clear winner.

At just around 1KB gzipped, it’s significantly smaller than React, which is around 38KB gzipped. This makes Million.js a great choice for projects where performance is critical and every kilobyte counts.

Try it Out

screenshot by the Authors

If you’re interested in trying out Million.js, you can find it on GitHub. There’s also a live demo available so you can see it in action.

For a more in-depth look at Million.js, check out this YouTube video which provides a comprehensive overview of the library.

Web development is an ever-evolving field, and libraries like Million.js are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Whether you’re a seasoned developer or just starting out, it’s worth taking the time to explore new tools and technologies.

Who knows, Million.js might just be the next big thing in your web development toolkit!

Use Cases

ReactJS, with its mature ecosystem and wide range of features, is a great choice for complex, stateful applications. Its component-based architecture and advanced state management capabilities make it easy to build complex applications with many moving parts.

Million.js, with its focus on size and performance, is a great choice for simpler applications or situations where load time and performance are critical. Its API is similar to React’s, making it easy for developers familiar with React to pick up.

In conclusion, both ReactJS and Million.js have their strengths and are suited to different types of projects. ReactJS is a powerful tool for building complex applications, while Million.js offers a leaner, more performance-focused alternative. As always, the best tool depends on the needs of the project and the preferences of the development team.

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NapSaga
𝐀𝐈 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐤𝐬.𝐢𝐨

Driven digital entrepreneur & AI/FinTech/investment authority. Committed to delivering insightful content, empowering & enlightening readers.