Svelte is a simple JavaScript framework that can help developers create reactive applications. It's time to take a look at what this can bring to your company.
In the world of front-end development, it seems like there is a new “must-have” tool emerging every day. Some of these tools end up being quite important in the software development life cycle for companies, while others disappear over time, never to be remembered again.
One aspect of front-end development that sees an inexhaustible supply of new tools is frameworks. No matter what language you use, there are several frameworks ready to serve. Some of them are very useful, while others are redundant at best.
This is the case with JavaScript. The reason why there are so many JavaScript frameworks available is quite simple, as JavaScript is one of the most used languages on the planet. As JS is considered mandatory for interactive applications and websites, it is a language that is on everyone's mind. Therefore, there are many frameworks available.
One such JavaScript framework is Svelte. One of Svelte's main goals is to help developers create reactive applications. What is a reactive application? Whenever a value changes in an application (such as when a user enters data), that value will automatically be reflected in the Document Object Model (DOM). The DOM is a logical tree structure that represents an HTML page displayed in a browser or application.
Reactive applications are essential for today's modern use cases because they make it possible for parts of a web page or application to be updated without the entire page needing to be updated. This is a dramatic departure from the old way of doing things (where to update any section of a page or application, everything must be loaded again).
And so it turns out that every developer who uses JavaScript is focused on developing reactive frontends.
Svelte takes a very different approach to this. In simpler terms, Svelte compiles your code at build time, so only pure JavaScript that modifies the DOM can reach the browser. This functionality goes a long way in removing the framework the moment the application code reaches the browser.
This means that a Svelte application's components (such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files) are combined into .svelte files, the DOM is always in sync with the state of your application, applications are compiled into tiny, structureless JavaScript at launch time. build, and can be used to develop standalone applications or in conjunction with another application. All of this combines to create incredibly fast JS applications.
Advantages of Svelte
The advantages of Svelte should already be apparent. But there is more. By adopting this new framework, your developers will have certain advantages over other tools. These advantages include:
- Less boilerplate code to write, so your developers can focus on creating solutions.
- Reactive variables can be easily created by simply adding $: at the beginning of the declaration.
- No more virtual DOM, so applications run faster and more reliably.
- Instead of CSS, developers use scoped styles with JavaScript, which allows them to include mid-document styles that target a specific element and its children.
- Includes its own minimal state management solution.
- Zero traces of the framework in compiled applications.
- Svelte applications run significantly faster than with other frameworks.
Disadvantages of Svelte
There are, however, some disadvantages to adopting Svelte, which include:
- A much smaller community than other structures.
- No major support yet.
- Lack of IDE support.
- Few Svelte development toolkits are available.
- Very small open source ecosystem.
If your developers can do their work without requiring a lot of support, Svelte would be a great option for them to create highly reactive applications. If, on the other hand, they tend to rely heavily on support and community, Svelte might not be the best option (yet). Give the framework time, however, and a community will develop around the tool.
What can you build with Svelte?
Svelte can be used to build small parts of an application or the entire application itself. You'll make the most of this framework when building fast web applications that include intelligent interfaces. If this is what your company is looking for, Svelte could very well be the framework you need.
For your developers to get started with Svelte, they will need a basic understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. And that's it. With these skills, your development teams are ready to start building with Svelte. And with the help of an easy-to-use tutorial they'll be up to speed in no time.
Check out this simple Hello, World app written with Svelte that looks like this:
<script>
let name="world";
</script>
<h1>Hello {name}!</h1>
It's that simple.
Conclusion
Svelte is an interesting new approach to JavaScript, capable of creating incredibly responsive and fast applications. If you want to help your developers take their website or web applications to the next level of performance and simplicity, Svelte should be on your horizon.
Source: BairesDev
