Vue.js and React.js are two frontend JavaScript frameworks popular in the developer world, with React taking the top spot on the podium for three consecutive years now. Both tools offer developers a productive approach to building various Web applications, but each has its own best use cases and responds to different business needs. In this article, we’ll explore what those use cases can be, along with perks that make Vue.js and React unique.
The Cream of the Crop
There are many reasons for Vue’s and React’s prominence on the developer landscape, but before we dive deeper into their distinctive features, let’s briefly go over what the two share that makes them so much in demand.
Virtual DOM —instead of re-rendering the whole page as is the case with regular DOM, React and Vue update only those objects that have changed, saving the time and resources that heavy DOM manipulations otherwise consume.
Component-based UI development — Vue’s and React’s considerable libraries of components facilitate code reuse, improve developer productivity, and speed up the development process.
Focus on the view library—separate concerns for routing, state management, etc.
Official component library for building mobile apps—quite long-awaited in Vue but now supported in both tools.
Background
React was created for the purpose of targeting specific needs at Facebook, and it continues to be maintained by the tech giant. In the past there were doubts regarding React’s license; currently, however, the tool operates under the MIT License—which makes it open source.
React’s corporate backing, especially from such a major player, indicates stability in the future and implies that React will continue to be developed with long-term support.
Vue, on the other hand, was built by one developer, Evan You, in order to improve on available JS tools. A former Google employee on their Angular team, Evan You wanted to create a framework that combined the best approaches to frontend development from Angular, Ember, and React with other features that made writing Web apps faster, easier, and more pleasant.
From the get-go, Vue was a truly open source project, relying on the community, contributors, and crowdfunding to move forward.
