framework

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A framework (in this context software framework or web framework in particular) is a software library and ways of using it that provides an alternative (often simplified) way of writing software, typically explicitly instead of how you would normally write that software.

If a library provides different (even simplified) ways of writing software, but explicitly adjacent to, complementary with, or even dependent on how you would normally write that software, then it is not typically considered a framework.

Examples

JS

Javascript frameworks

• Angular
• Ember
• React
• Svelte and Svelte Kit
• ...

Python

• Flask
• Django

Criticism

• 2017-02-10 Adrian Holovaty: About the PPK talk and tweet about PPK's talk “What are the things you do wrong as a Web Developer?”, see also

See Also

• library
• JavaScript Frameworks: Distribution Channels for Good Ideas
• https://twitter.com/baseLogiK/status/1001976304399519749
  • "Switching to a new framework won't make you better at writing maintainable code." @baseLogiK May 30, 2018
• https://twitter.com/zeldman/status/1002198029674385408
  • "“Web making has lately become something of a dick measuring competition.”
    
    Our addiction to complicated toolchains and overbuilt frameworks is out of control. Read “The Cult of the Complex” by Jeffrey @Zeldman (that’s me!) in today’s @alistapart.
    
    https://alistapart.com/article/cult-of-the-complex" @zeldman May 31, 2018
• 2018-05-31 A List Apart: Zeldman: The Cult of the Complex

  In some strange way, stepping back from a meaningless rejection of divs opened the door to gaseous frameworks that abuse them.

• Use-cases for server-side frameworks (e.g. for PHP) : templating, routing
• https://twitter.com/mikeriethmuller/status/1147042962997563393
  • "2005 - Prototype
    2007 - MooTools
    2006 - jQuery
    2006 - Sass (no scss)
    2006 - YUI
    2009 - OOCSS
    2006 - SCSS
    2011 - SMACSS
    2011 - Bootstrap
    2011 - Grunt
    2012 - BEM
    2012 - Webpack
    2013 - React
    2013 - Gulp
    2015 - Babel
    2015 - CSS Modules
    2016 - Styled Components
    2016 - Create React App" @MikeRiethmuller July 5, 2019
• Criticism: https://twitter.com/soapdog/status/1377718014410391553
  • "this kind of shit is why the #web is fucked. I simply wanted a ref to the Twitter text input box, and what I found was the div megadungeon. Fuck modern web frameworks and modern web developers, you've broken something wonderful." @soapdog April 1, 2021
• ^^
• Criticism: 2023-02-22 The Great Gaslighting of the JavaScript Era

  The Burden of Proof is On You, Frontend Framework Stans, Not the Vanilla Web!

• Issue: adoption tends to be exaggerated due to a minority of loud voices on social media: 2023-02-14 The (extremely) loud minority

  Even if you add together React and Vue, it’s still less than 5% of all websites.

• Criticism of JS frameworks in particular: 2024-08-28 Developers Rail Against JavaScript ‘Merchants of Complexity’

  “People are getting sick of frameworks. All the JavaScript frameworks are so… what do you call it, like [un]wieldy. It takes so much work to just maintain this code, and then it updates to a new version, you need to change everything.”