Ember.js vs React.js — When to use what?
Few years ago, Devtips — a popular Youtube channel started a series in which they decided to build an online business, covering all the aspects of it from crafting a business plan to building a functional website. All in all, I think it’s going to be a FUN series to witness :D
So when the time came to build the designed prototype for the website, they chose to go with React.js — An enormously popular JS Library. I couldn’t understand why they did not choose Ember.js over React.js, especially because Ember.js was so easy to get started with.
Why did we not use Ember.js?
Watch the video where MPJ and David answer my question in detail and explain why they chose React.js over Ember.js for prototyping.
Wow! I didn’t expect a full blown video answering my doubt (as a comment on their previous Youtube video), but this is just great in so many aspects. So thank you #DevTips 😊
What I learnt from this video
It’s not about what framework/library is better but more about what tool is best for the task at hand and for whom. Also, it’s already a well known fact that comparing React with Ember is like comparing an Apple to an Orange :D
What could have been a more worthy comparison is between React.js and Glimmer.js. Here is a useful comparison between between them: React’s Preact vs Ember’s Glimmer
In this specific case, I see that Ember.js wasn’t chosen because
- They wanted to learn about React.js (02:50)
- (04:05) React.js is a well established, battle tested, has a great ecosystem and is very small compared to Ember.js in overall size.
- Ember.js uses a templating engine (HTMLbars), whereas React.js uses the JSX approach which MPJ believes (02:04) is a much better approach while rapidly prototyping (04:25)
- Plus React.js is in itself just the view layer, so it makes it the perfect choice for prototyping.
Now, few noteworthy points about the latest developments in Ember.js
- Ember.js is like they said a full blown package. It has all the necessary layers for a production grade web app. Hence the bulky size but with an upcoming Packager Feature, it will increase the flexibility of Ember’s build pipeline, paving the way for other neat features like code splitting and tree shaking and finally allowing developers to further reduce the file size of their applications by dramatic amounts.
- Ember.js also has this plug-and-play philosophy, in that, you can easily skip the data-layer (Ember Data)
- Ember.js has a booming ecosystem (See EmberObserver.com). It’s slow but I see more and more of the web applications adapting Ember.js (LinkedIn and Heroku, for example)
- With the “train” release model, it becomes very easy to cope up with Ember.js’ release cycles every 6 weeks. This wasn’t the case with it a few years ago, that is why you still see a lot of outdated information scattered all over the internet. But that’s changing, and for better!
Few other details..
Anybody who wants to learn Ember.js, head over to Ember.js Guide. You’ll be surprised at how easy this framework is to get up to speed with! ❤️
PS: These are strictly my views/opinions on Ember.js as a framework and I’ve just begun my journey into the JS world. So please excuse any wrong interpretations or misguided information that may have crept in. Also, I haven’t used React.js myself yet, so I have no right to comment on its use cases or pros and cons.
Cheers,
Keep on Learning and Keep on Hacking! 😊
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
