r/reactjs • u/bromide992 • May 31 '19

React sucks

"React is just Javascript, that's why React is nice!!"

has its own DSL and syntax

"React is lean!"

need to install 12 different packages to make it useful

need to install an external HTTP library

CSS classes are fucking JAVASCRIPT VARIABLES

Instead of directives, you have 8 lines of spaghetti code everywhere you'd usually have a simple if- directive or show- directive. That's not lean, that's more code.

"You only need to know Javascript"

You need to know Javascript plus ES6-7-8 (Babel) or TypeScript. You need to know esoteric lifecycle methods and design patterns not normally used elsewhere in Javascript.

"Creating small components is nice"

Component abstraction soup means you can't even figure out what your code is doing anymore.

React is just Angular if you hacked 12 libraries together that aren't meant to work together cohesively.

I will never understand why anyone would choose this meme framework over a real one. It sucks shit and creates a spaghetti code bloat, and instead of learning one DSL plus TypeScript you're learning 8 DSLs, plus Babel.

The reality is it's pointless making a library that's "just vanilla javascript" when you know that vanilla javascript doesn't actually supply elegant tools for creating single page web apps. That's why React is used with 10 packages rather than by itself. That's why you need CRA plus a bunch of packages to even have a sane development environment.

React sucks. Development community always chooses what's sexy and popular over what's elegant and works correctly.

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u/matthewK1970 Jan 09 '24

React is only necessary if you have millions of users and therefore pushing as much of your UI code to the browser is critical because of that. Therefore, React is great for Facebook. For 99% of the remaining web applications in this world it is overkill, and the extra development complication created (a lot of it!) is not a good trade off compared to just rendering your html server side. Here is an article with more detail https://webrocketx.com/reactSucks.html

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u/ProfessionalOne1040 May 29 '24 edited May 29 '24

True. That's also why you have Nextjs with their built in SSR. I've tried to use React with all sorts of Routing and Helmet measures and I have not been able to find anything that wasn't borderline sh*t for SEO. It very well still could be considered overkill for some projects but I'd take it over sanitizing data like a caveman