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JS vs JQuery vs Angular JS vs Node JS vs React

Dec. 15, 2020 JAVASCRIPT JQUERY ANGULAR NODE REACT 15886

In the world of web development, there are many tools and technologies, which provide advancement in the field and flexibility for developers to choose according to their needs and wants. But it might confuse beginners or even experienced developers to know what they are and which one to choose. Today, we are going to cover such JavaScript libraries and frameworks, what they are, and their pros and cons.

JavaScript


JavaScript is a dynamic, multiparadigm programming language. It is interpreted and not compiled. Therefore, as the name suggests, it is a scripting language. JavaScript is one of the most popular programming languages as it is highly used in programming the client-side of the web pages. It is now used on the server-side too, as we shall see. It is quite flexible, unlike other programming languages such as C, Java, etc. It is one of the main technologies alongside HTML and CSS in web development. It brings interactivity to your web pages. For example, clicking on the button can result in content changes using JavaScript.

jQuery


jQuery is a lightweight, feature-rich JavaScript library. It allows us to perform various tasks in a much simpler and quicker way. With jQuery, DOM manipulation, AJAX calls, event handling, and animations become a cinch. For example, performing AJAX calls can be quite complex and can take many lines of code when done using vanilla JavaScript. jQuery, on the other hand, provides us functions that we can directly call to perform an AJAX call. It reduces complexity through abstraction.

Browser Compatibility


It also has cross-browser compatibility, unlike JavaScript, and thus we do not need to write extra code to make sure that the website works properly on every browser.

Performance


Since the browser processes JavaScript directly, therefore, it can access DOM faster and thus has better performance. jQuery, on the other hand, needs to be converted into JavaScript. However, when the task is complex, plain JavaScript can make our code slow because we might not use the best method to perform it. This also makes our code hard to use and maintain. jQuery functions are coded very carefully and include efficient approaches.

React.js


React.js is an open-source JavaScript library that focuses on the User Interface (UI) of an application. It allows us to create single-page based web applications. A lot of people confuse it with a framework, but it is not. If you are familiar with the MVC (Model, View, Controller) architecture, it is the View part of it. Because it is just a View part, that means you have to integrate it into the MVC framework, which can become complicated.

Community


React is built and maintained by Facebook. It is quite popular in today's world and has a large community.

Component-Based Architecture


React follows the component-based architecture, which means dividing the application into small encapsulated parts and using them to create more complex user interfaces. This approach helps in maintainability, reusability, and optimization of the code.

JSX


React provides us a simple and elegant way of embedding HTML in JavaScript by writing our application in JSX (JavaScript XML). Even though JSX is not difficult, some programmers are reluctant to learn a new syntax.

Virtual DOM


Moreover, React.js works through the virtual DOM, which means that instead of manipulating the browser's DOM directly, it creates a virtual DOM in memory and makes the necessary manipulation there before updating the DOM, thus providing better performance.

Rich Ecosystem


Node Package Manager (NPM) has the largest source of JavaScript libraries, and the number of packages for React is a lot more than that of jQuery.

AngularJS


AngularJS is an open-source, structural, JavaScript-based framework that allows us to build dynamic, single-page web applications. It is created and maintained by Google. It uses HTML as a template language and extends HTML attributes using directives, which allows us to create new HTML syntax according to our needs and makes our components reusable. Since it is entirely based on HTML and JavaScript, so there is no need to learn any new language or syntax. Note that Angular is a complete rewrite of AngularJS, based on TypeScript (it is a superset of JavaScript).

Two-Way Data Binding


It uses MVC architecture, thus providing separation of concerns in your application. Moreover, it has two-way data binding, meaning that any change in the model gets reflected in the view and vice versa. Due to two-way data binding, you can easily manipulate DOM. React, on the other hand, allows one-way data binding, which means the UI components cannot change without updating the corresponding model state.

Dependency Injection


Dependency injection is one of the top features of AngularJS. It is a software design pattern in which objects are passed as dependencies in your components, and thus we do not need to hard code them, making our components reusable and maintainable.

Testability


AngularJS was designed in such a way so that it becomes testable. The entire framework is testable. We can perform unit testing for controllers or perform testing from the user’s perspective.

Ease of Learning


Since it is a complete framework as opposed to a library, it includes many concepts than React or jQuery, and thus it may take more time to learn them. Moreover, features like directives or dependency injection are difficult to use. Therefore, it is hard for beginners to learn Angular JS. Flexibility Since Angular JS is a framework, it imposes a specific structure or rules to follow. Therefore, we have less flexibility in it than React, which is a library. Node.js Node.js is a fast, highly flexible, open-source JavaScript runtime environment built on the Chrome V8 JavaScript Engine. Simply put, it is an environment where our code gets executed. With Node JS, we can use JavaScript as a server-side programming language that allows us to create full-fledged web applications using JavaScript only. It uses a single-threaded, event-driven, non-blocking I/O model, making it lightweight, efficient, and simple to use. Because of the event-based nature, Node.js becomes very efficient for real-time applications. Moreover, with non-blocking I/O, we can handle several client requests at the same time, providing higher response time. Ease of Learning For beginners, it is simple to learn since it is based on JavaScript. It also has a large active community, providing support and useful resources.

Rich Ecosystem


Node.js has a rich ecosystem. Node Package Manager (NPM) provides several JavaScript packages and tools, allowing us to use pre-coded functionalities directly.

Usage


Node.js is best for building real-time data-driven, I/O bound single-page applications, for example, live chats, and audio and video conferencing, etc. Node.js is not recommended for CPU-intensive applications. As the load on the CPU increases, its efficiency decreases.  





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A computer science student having interest in web development. Well versed in Object Oriented Concepts, and its implementation in various projects. Strong grasp of various data structures and algorithms. Excellent problem solving skills.
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