React vs Backbone.js: Which is better for your project?

Front-end development is an absolutely crucial aspect of business evolution and growth. If your development team isn't constantly looking to improve the user interface you offer customers, clients, and employees, you're already losing ground to the competition.

While you may offer some of the best services known to mankind, if the front-ends of those services are not well-developed and easy to use, those services will wither. This is one of the many reasons why you not only need high-quality front-ends for your services, but also why you need the best front-end developers your company can afford.

Once you've hired the best team of front-end developers, you'll need to provide them with the right tools to get the job done efficiently and effectively.

That means frameworks, and with JavaScript there are a lot of options. Two of the most popular JavaScript frameworks are React and Backbone.js. Both frameworks make it possible to better develop front ends (also known as user interfaces or UIs) for applications.

With these apps, your developers can create things like:

• Single Page Applications (SPAs)
• Data visualization tools
• Messaging apps
• Social media
• Enterprise web applications
• Cross-platform mobile apps

Both frameworks are free to use and can be installed on any platform that supports JavaScript, but of the two, React is used more widely and on more sites. You'll find React used in areas such as science and education, IT, communities and social networks, e-commerce, and healthcare. On the other hand, you'll find Backbone.js leaders in arts and entertainment, gaming, and lifestyle-centric use cases.

What is a framework?

Before we continue, let's answer the question: What is a framework? Simply put, a framework is a collection of tools (like libraries) that make it easier to build applications. Frameworks include reusable bits of code so that a developer (or team of developers) doesn't have to reinvent everything.

For example, a JavaScript framework might include code to add animated drop-down lists to an application. Instead of having to write code from scratch, a developer can simply integrate that pre-programmed piece of code into their application and go.

Best JavaScript Frameworks

Now that you understand what a framework is, what are the best frameworks available for JavaScript? React, of course, is one of the most popular frameworks for the language. Other possible frameworks you can use for JavaScript include:

• Angular: Open source, creates SPAs, offers simplified Document Object Model (DOM) manipulation, includes bidirectional binding, and is highly testable.
• Vue.js : Fast and lightweight, offers extensive documentation, and supports two-way reactive binding.
• Ember.js : Includes a powerful command line interface (CLI) tool, add-ons, extensive documentation, and plenty of community involvement.
• Meteor: Includes several features to make the framework convenient to use, helps make development more efficient, is easy to learn, and has an active community.
• Mithril : Lightweight, offers good performance, includes a powerful templating engine, and is easy to learn.
• Node.js : Offers high performance, is easy to learn, scalable, and has a very active community.
• Polymer : Good for SPAs, has many reusable components and makes excellent use of storage elements.
• Aurélia: Focuses on convention rather than configuration, has a very readable syntax, and offers extensive documentation.

Of course, while we didn't list React or Backbone.js, both are legitimate candidates for inclusion. Let us now focus on these two structures.

React vs BackBone JS

Here's a quick breakdown of React and BackboneJS.

Pros and cons of React

For starters, React is more widely used than Backbone.js. In fact, React is used in almost 150 countries around the world, while Backbone.js is concentrated in less than 10. Because of this, you can not only be sure that the React community is much more active, but also there will be much more support available for the framework.

Reaction Pros

From both a business and developer perspective, the pros of React include the following:

More developers available

Because it's so widely used, you'll discover countless high-quality options for hiring a developer who knows React like the back of his hand.”

Cross-platform applications

With React, you can create cross-platform applications with a single framework, making them more cost-effective, reliable, and portable.

Shorter time to market

Frameworks always make the development process more efficient, and React is no stranger to this.

Backward compatibility

One of the best things about React is that it is always backwards compatible. Even when a major update is released, the framework will still work with older versions, so your developers don't have to worry about rewriting applications to use the new version.

Reusable components

As with any framework, React includes reusable components, which means your developers can spend less time reinventing the wheel and more time focusing on building what you need to deploy an application.

virtual DOM

By using a virtual DOM, applications can sync more quickly and reliably, which means they will have better performance and fewer problems.

Declarative

The declarative nature of React makes it easy to create interactive and effective UIs. Because it's reactive, you can design simple views for each state of an application, and React will automatically update and render state only through components with changed data. This results in applications that are more predictable and easier to debug.

Component-based

Because React is component-based, your developers can build encapsulated components that manage their own states and then integrate them to create more complex and complete UIs. And because logic is written in JavaScript (instead of templates), developers can pass data through an application and maintain application state outside of the DOM.

Learn once, write anywhere

Because React makes no assumptions about your applications, you can develop new features without having to rewrite existing code.

React cons

Of course, React has its drawbacks, and while every programmer will have their own list, most will include:

Component logic

React does not have separate component logic and views, which makes programming a little more challenging as programmers have to jump between lines in a file.

Third-party libraries

With React, there are no official libraries that handle common tasks. To do this, developers must rely on third-party libraries, which makes the work a little more initial.

Lack of Conventions

React doesn't impose any specific conventions on developers, which means the learning curve is a little steeper.

Pros and cons of Backbone.js

For starters, Backbone.js uses the Model View (MV) framework, which allows for a much more structured approach to JavaScript development. Other pros of Backbone.js include the following:

JavaScript Functions

It allows developers to create an application using JavaScript functions.

Automated updates

The HTML code of any application developed with Backbone.js is automatically updated.

open code

Backbone.js is an open source framework that includes over 100 extensions as well as a library that makes it easy to separate business logic and user interface.

Data Model

With Backbone.js, the data model consisting of user data can be managed and displayed on the client side, which allows developers to create web and mobile applications in a standard format.

Restful

Developers can enable communication between the application and the server through the RESTful API.

Backbone Collections

Backbone collections allow developers to not only control overhead but also save new models to the server, which can help notify developers of a change in an event.

Backbone Router

This Backbone.js component routes the client sides of a web page and manages it through events. This can be useful for any application that needs features like URL history.

Backbone synchronization

Backbone Sync is a function called whenever JavaScript tries to save or read a model on the server.

Backbone.js also includes other advantages: lightweight, many small libraries for numerous functionalities, event-driven communication, conventions for coding style, and greatly simplifies UX design.

And now, the cons of using Backbone.js:

Small updates

It's really easy to make countless small updates to a DOM when a user interacts with an application. While this is fine for smaller applications, when applying it to larger data structures it can mean an inferior user experience.

REST to non-REST

Trying to use the RESTful API with a non-RESTful API backend can be very challenging for even the best developers.

Problems with unit tests

While Backbone.js templates are quite simple when running unit tests, running these same tests in a Backbone.js view is quite challenging.

Empty division

Backbone.js creates an empty DIV element for each Backbone.js view, which can lead to redundant DIVs in the generated HTML.

Less productive

Because Backbone.js is more like a library than a framework, it doesn't impose much judgment on developers. Because of this, Backbone.js won't offer much help or write as much code for your developers. Also, because Backbone.js doesn't offer much input, the architecture can be a bit confusing at times.

Memory leak

This is one of the biggest cons of using Backbone.js. Your developers will need to pay close attention when developing front-end applications, as memory leaks can be a real problem. If an application is not carefully written and tested, the performance impact can be dramatic, leaving users very dissatisfied.

Already using a framework? Migration Challenges

Now that you understand the pros and cons of React and Backbone.js, what challenges will your developers face when trying to migrate between them?

When migrating from Backbone.js to React, you may encounter issues such as:

• Non-reusable views: Unlike React components (which are very easy to reuse), Backbone.js views are very difficult to reuse. Fortunately, many of Backbone.js' reusability challenges can be overcome with the help of React's universal components.
• DOM Difficulty : One of the problems with migrating from Backbone.js to React is that Backbone.js views cannot update parts of the DOM without first rerendering the entire DOM. This functionality can be costly to performance. Fortunately, React overcomes this problem by making use of a virtual DOM, which only re-renders specific parts of the DOM.
• Scaling: Backbone.js does not scale well. React, on the other hand, does.

Chances are very good that you will choose to migrate from Backbone.js to React (and not the other way around). Because of this, you should consider the following.

Incorporate your components

With React, you can embed components in Backbone.js views, which means a view will be rendered as a subview of the React component instead of an HTML template.

Prepare your application

If you are developing a SPA but want to extend it to others via routing, React makes it very simple. With the help of the React Router library, you can easily route between pages, write new pages as React components, and even wrap a single Backbone.js page with a React component.

Tailor your data

With Backbone.js, Views work with Models and Collections, which store data or fetch data from a server.

As necessary

First of all, if you have a Backbone.js application that works well, don't mess with it. Over time, you may want to migrate this code from Backbone.js to React, but if it works, don't try to fix it just yet. Let the process unfold over time on an as-needed basis. Until an application no longer works or new functionality is needed (which cannot be achieved with Backbone.js), leave it as is.

Build a prototype

The first thing you want to do is build a prototype or proof of concept for your application so that you can fully understand how React will solve the problems of migrating from Backbone.js to React.

One step at a time

Instead of diving head first into React and rebuilding your entire Backbone.js application from scratch, consider taking the task one step at a time. Write the new features in React and then rewrite the old features in Backbone.js without allowing the new code to negatively affect the old code.

Leave the backend alone

Remember that you are working with front-end applications. The less you have to play with the backend, the better off you will be. So when migrating from one to another, make sure everything is handled on the front end and rebuild so that the back end doesn't need to change.

Unhurried

This can't be stressful enough. When migrating from Backbone.js to React, take your time. This is especially true if the Backbone.js application is working properly. Sure, it might not have all the features your new app needs, nor can it scale as much as you'd like, but if it's working, you won't need to make this migration overnight. Take the time necessary to understand the task at hand and prioritize doing things the right way over doing them quickly.

Integrate when possible

Another option is to go the integration route rather than full migration. Thanks to tools like connect-backbone-to-react (which can be installed via the Node.js package manager, npm), you can easily connect Backbone.js models and collections to React. This means that you may not need to rewrite the entire Backbone.js application, but instead have them work together to form a perfect union of simplicity, usability, and scalability.

React vs. Backbone: Conclusion

Given that many more developers and companies are using React instead of Backbone.js, the chances are very good that your project will end up opting for the former over the latter.

That doesn't mean Backbone.js doesn't have its place. If you want to build SPAs that use custom models, views, controllers, collections, and events — and aren't worried about the cost of performance or scalability — Backbone.js is a great place to start. However, if you need high-performance applications that offer considerable scalability options, you can't go wrong with React.

Ultimately, it’s a bit like the “Go Vs Node” question. Look at your next project as a “React vs. Backbone.js” is probably not ideal as it ultimately depends on the project goals and requirements. Smaller applications that need to be developed and deployed quickly are perfect for Backbone.js. Although larger SPAs that must be scaled up with serious performance needs are better suited for React. Either way, these two frameworks are a great option to help your development teams build and deploy great apps.

If you liked this, be sure to check out our other articles on React.

• React WebSockets: Tutorial
• A Comprehensive Guide to Server-Side Rendering in React
• Svelte Vs React: which is better
• The Power of Hooks in React: Dynamic Applications Made Simple
• Top React Interview Questions and Answers You Need to Know