History of ReactJS

The predecessors

Did you know that the first website ever created is still live? It was created in 1991! A lot has changed since then. To start, web developers wanted to change their websites’ appearance; therefore, CSS was created. A few years later, those same web developers wanted to see more interactivity on their now beautiful websites. This is when JavaScript found its place on the internet. But as we know, the web never stops evolving. Heavy usage of JavaScript led to the creation of libraries such as jQuery, BackboneJS, and Ember. Each library’s creators learned lessons from their competitors. They made decisions that led to creating very different developer experiences. The developers had their preferences and little disagreements over which library was better.

The user experience on websites evolved, no matter which library was used behind the scenes. Websites became much more interactive and adaptable to the user’s screen size. For example, it is common practice today to create separate menus for mobile views and desktop views. This can be achieved with JavaScript or CSS alone. This user experience shift could not have taken place without the evolution of JavaScript open-source libraries.

AngularJS framework

After a few years of adding more and more separate bits of JavaScript to websites, it was time for a more holistic solution. The first breakthrough came from Google with AngularJS, officially released in 2010. AngularJS was different from other solutions on the market at that time. It was not just another library; it was a framework.

Developers were able to create complex interactions quickly, and they were no longer afraid that any change to their JavaScript files could break the entire page. We don’t want to go into the implementational details of AngularJS. After all, that is not the focus of this course. In broad strokes, AngularJS introduced special HTML attributes that were observed by the framework running in the background. As imagined, when JavaScript is observing dozens or even hundreds of elements and events, it will slow down. So, the user experience is suffering, and the world is ready for another JavaScript revolution.