This is a very new framework that is making waves in the developer world. Next.js is a minimalistic framework that will allow us to create server-rendered React apps. It has a very small learning curve, especially if you are familiar with Node.js and React.
Some of the other cool features of Next.js are:
- It builds apps that are server-rendered by default.
- Next.js will give us faster page loads by enabling automatic code splitting.
- It has a simple page-based client-side routing.
- Next’s webpack based development environment supports Hot Module Replacement (HMR). This way, modules can be added, exchanges, or removes while an app is running. And we don’t even have to do a full reload!
- Developers working on this framework can implement with Express or any other Node.js HTTP server.
- Next is also customizable with developers own Babel and Webpack configurations.
Meteor
While Laravel is just a backend technology, and you as the developer will have to write your own front-end code. But Meteor is a full-stack web development framework where you can develop your full-fledged application without using any external framework.
Meteor is JavaScript; on both client and server side. This lack of programming language diversity will only play in the developer’s favor.
Less code means fewer bugs. Most of the common things like database, UI reactivity is already taken care of by Meteor. So the developer is saved from writing a lot of codebase. Statistically, Meteor reduces the need for writing code by at least 70–80%.
AdonisJs
A special mention needs to be given to this MVC framework. AdonisJs is a beautifully crafted framework for Node.js. Adonis has borrowed concepts like dependency injection and service providers from Laravel to write beautiful code that testable to its core.
AdonisJs focuses on some of the key aspects of creating stable and scalable web apps like:
Developer Experience
Adonis uses the latest inbuilt ECMAScript features to get rid of spaghetti code. Because there is a solid support for ECMAScript2015 generators, the developer won’t need to bother writing any callbacks. Also, the Object-Oriented Programming nature of the framework helps developers abstract their code into multiple re-usable chunks.
Consistent API
The API throughout the codebase is so consistent that after a while, a developer will be able to guess the method names, expected output, etc.
Speed & Productivity
AdonisJs ships with a bunch of 1st party components known as providers. With AdonisJs, writing an entire web server is a matter of weeks, if not a few days. It ships with solid support for Mailing, Authentication, Redis, SQL ORM, Data Validation and Sanitization, etc.
Challenges Faced in JavaScript Alternatives
There are some challenges that a developer will face when using JavaScript alternatives to Laravel. So of those challenges are:
Deployment
Deploying projects with PHP backend is very easy. All you have to do is copy the files to a server, configure the server and your app is ready to run!
But in the case of apps using JavaScript alternatives, things get a little bit tricky. We will need to build a production app, configure Webpack accordingly. In case of JavaScript apps, the server goes with the code itself. So the developer has to manage the server itself.
Handling Crashes
Whenever a crash occurs on an app with PHP backend, only that particular user/client is affected by the crash.
But when it comes to apps with Node.js, the entire thread is affected by the crash. But these crash can be handled by performing all the intensive computations on a separate thread.
In Conclusion…
While these alternative frameworks may help a developer build web-apps with more ease, I am yet to find a framework that is as detailed as Laravel.
The JavaScript alternatives that I mentioned here come into picture when the developer is more focused on the microservices.
I am Rajat S, a DC Comics fan and occasional ⚽️ player who is currently at GeekyAnts as Technical Content Writer.
Thanks To PraNeet Rohida, who works as a Developer at GeekyAnts, for helping me with this post. You also can check out these slides by him:
Laravel Equivalent in Javascript by praneet123_An interactive presentation created with Slides._slides.com
And thanks to you for reading this post! Please do 👏 and follow me if you liked this post!