Shahzad Khan, Author at General Assembly Blog

What Is coding?

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Coding is a language, simply put. But that doesn’t stop the mysteries and the global misconceptions that swirl around it. Too often, coding is presented as difficult to understand and needlessly complicated. Why does coding have such a mystique?

Shahzad Khan, one of our lead instructors, breaks it down:

“People think that coding is about sitting in a dark room writing thousands of lines of incomprehensible code. It’s not.” Khan has built a career on breaking down the complicated concepts of coding into easily understood concepts in our Introduction to Coding course, which allows students to dive right into learning programming language. “With the new high-level languages like Javascript and Python, coding is more intuitive and closer to the English language than it has ever been.”

Just like with other languages, once you learn a coding language and how to use the tools of computer science to communicate, a whole new world opens up.

Coders have been known to perpetuate the mythology, though. When they talk about coding, practitioners can sound like proselytizers. They tell passionate stories of how coding has changed their lives — and the world. Famous lines of code have become legendary. Look no further than the Facebook “like” button, an example of how the most consequential code changes people’s behaviors. That’s a lot of power, and it can be intoxicating.

Steve Jobs famously claimed that everyone should learn how to write code because learning how to code teaches you how to think. That may be true, but this definition of coding is still our favorite: Coding is solving real-world problems with existing technology.

And the barriers to entry are relatively low. “Coding is awesome because it allows you to build some amazing things as long as you have a working computer and the internet. No need to go invest in expensive equipment,” says Khan. 

“Software is eating the world, so coding is already extremely important and will be even more so as we progress into the future. The right people who know how to code will save the world.”

The fact is that software is only getting more ubiquitous, finding its way into government and public policy. One look at the United States’ patchwork response to COVID-19, and it’s not hard to imagine how the right software at the right time could have lifesaving implications.

For others, coding is a calling and a way to express creativity — not something you usually associate with computer science. “Creating something is so satisfying, and coding is the ultimate tool to do that,” says Arwa Lokhandwala, one of our lead instructors:  “I love getting my hands dirty trying to learn how to use a particular technology to solve a problem or just creating something for fun.”

Coding isn’t a solitary, head-down endeavor, contrary to those popular misconceptions. We can dispel the image of the glassy-eyed, hoodie-wearing loner right here. “There is a common myth that coders work alone,” Lokhandwala continues. “That’s not true! Coding is a very collaborative role. You have to interact with your team members, designers, product owners, and stakeholders, to name a few.”

“We are entering the Fourth Industrial Revolution where technology will dominate every domain. Currently, people are using coding for everything from detecting diseases to exploring outer space. This is just the beginning. Coding is completely going to revolutionize every industry and give birth to new ones.”

Ready to learn? Enrolling in a coding bootcamp is a great way to learn coding without investing years or thousands of dollars. At GA, a coding bootcamp can be 12 or 15 weeks long and is designed to be a fast-paced learning experience. Students learn and implement quicker than in more traditional courses, and the most successful learn to trust the process. Our Software Engineering Immersive course gives students all the coding skills they need to start job hunting and is Khan’s favorite course to teach. “I love that I get to make an immediate impact in the lives of people who come to learn and want to change their lives for the better.”

Explore Coding Workshops

Want to learn more about Arwa?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/arwalokhandwala-b831b/

https://www.instagram.com/code.with.arwa/

Want to learn more about Shahzad?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahzadkhanaustin/

https://flawgical.medium.com

How long does it take to learn coding?

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How long does it actually take to learn coding? To create a diverse portfolio that wows clients, you’ll want to showcase your talents on varying platforms. But first, you’ll need to assemble your coding toolkit. The most efficient approach for beginners is to pick one programming language and try to master it. So, what can you expect next?

Since everyone’s learning style is different, the time commitment required to learn coding can vary. Some people will pick up a new coding language in days, while for others, it could take months. Taking a course specific to Python or JavaScript will teach you the core concepts of that language and how to write programs in those languages. Expect a bit of a learning curve as you train your mind to think like a programmer. But it’s all part of the process. In our coding courses, you’ll gain broad benefits that set you up for workplace success. You’ll learn best practices, get feedback from peers and experts, build a network, and receive career coaching.

Shahzad Khan, lead instructor and owner of software development and consulting firm Frame of Mind considers coding to be a life-long learning process. “Coding is a way of thinking rather than a thing you learn and implement. Once you understand that, it’s just a matter of practice. Some students will arrive at that “a-ha” moment faster than others.“

For those who can invest more time upfront, Khan recommends the intense learning environment of a bootcamp like our Software Engineering Immersive (SEI), which gives  all the coding skills for full-stack web development. 

“SEI will teach you everything from how to ideate and think about the user to how to implement design patterns and deploy the application to the cloud,” he says. “All that, in a nutshell, is full-stack development. You will learn at least two languages and their respective frameworks. There is also time dedicated to computer science fundamentals, so graduates have a robust exposure to concepts as they interview for their first role as software developers.” 

When Python instructor, Diego Rodriguez, was working as a data analyst, he used coding to get his job done faster. “I was doing many repetitive data analysis tasks, and I knew that if I could code, I could not only get through them quicker, but I could teach others to do the same. I read “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Tim Ferriss, and that shaped my perspective on how to work. I realized that coding would allow me to do more in less time.”

He encourages beginners to start with the fundamentals and apply learning code to a personal project for the most successful — and efficient — approach.

“In as little as two weeks, you can learn enough to take on small projects like creating data visualizations using structured data. If you’re learning with a specific goal in mind, you can focus on accomplishing each step of the workflow using code.”

Rodriguez breaks down just how long it takes to learn the programming language Python here. 

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Want to learn more about Shahzad?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahzadkhanaustin/
https://flawgical.medium.com

Want to learn more about Diego?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodriguezadiego/

How To Learn Coding

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Do you know how to use a computer? Do you have a curious mind? If you answered yes to both, you have everything you need to learn a programming language and become a coder. Coding is very accessible — it’s really that simple.

There are many ways to learn to code, from going it alone on a DIY coding website to scoring a coveted spot in a computer science doctoral program. Learning along with others and from an instructor who is passionate, knowledgeable, and has real-world experience creates our dynamic General Assembly environment. From a bootcamp Immersive to a classic Introduction to Coding, our coding courses are taught by professionals who are industry leaders. Essential is their own love of learning, and they thrive on sharing this with students, often in a collaborative discussion that covers a wide range of coding topics.

Lead Instructor at General Assembly Singapore, Arwa Lokhandwala, is a full-stack web developer and advocate for women in technology through groups like the Women Techmakers Community and Mumbai Women Coders. She describes herself as a coder at heart with a passion for sharing. We trust her guidance on all things coding.

“Anyone with a passion for learning new things can learn how to code, “ says Lokhandwala. “You don’t need a 4-year degree. Familiarity with computer science is good to have, but it’s not necessary; you can learn that as you go along. A lot of companies hire people directly from a coding bootcamp.”

“Bootcamps are inherently intense because there is a limited time period to train, which has its own advantages. The initial days are challenging, but as you progress with the projects you build, the people you interact with, and the things you learn, you will become confident with interviewing and getting the job. If you are just starting out with coding, I would highly recommend a GA Immersive because it gives you a community. Talking to other people who are in the same situation as you can help you get motivated.”

There is no one-size-fits-all, ideal coding student. Students at GA have come from all walks of life, from service industries to liberal arts backgrounds to working on an oil rig. Lokhandwala describes what makes a student successful. “Never giving up. Coding is hard, and nobody gets it on their first attempt. So don’t let your imposter syndrome get the better of you. Keep practicing, and you will get it. Your intrinsic motivation to code has to be stronger than the external motivation in order to create a fulfilling career.” 

Shahzad Khan, one of our lead instructors and owner of software development and consulting firm Frame of Mind, appreciates the experience that students from non-traditional backgrounds bring to his Introduction to Coding course at our Austin, Texas campus. Khan got a degree in philosophy and began studying programming languages as a way to gain acumen after graduate school. “I saw coding as something I needed to learn in a world where we are surrounded by software.” 

His passion for teaching makes his courses popular among returning students.

“I love teaching programming because it forces me to learn every single day and to think about different ways to explain complex concepts. Plus, I get to make some genuine connections with students and inspire them to awesome things.”

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Want to learn more about Arwa?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/arwalokhandwala-b831b/
https://www.instagram.com/code.with.arwa/

Want to learn more about Shahzad?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahzadkhanaustin/
https://flawgical.medium.com

Ways to make money coding

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If computer scientists agree on anything these days, it’s that software is everywhere in our ultra-connected world. Since someone has to write all that software code, there are more ways than ever to make money coding.

And computer science prevails in our ever-shifting world. COVID-19 has revealed our global interdependence on computer science, and there’s no going back. From Roombas to mRNA, the applications of coding have come to define daily life in new ways. One enterprising coder recently made the news using the programming language Python to snag an elusive vaccine appointment in their city.

It’s easy to understand why coding skills are some of the most sought-after in today’s tech job market. So how do you actually make money with coding and start saving the world one line of code at a time? We have the answers.

Once you’ve got a few coding courses or a coding bootcamp under your belt, you’ll have a working coding toolkit that showcases your talent. Now it’s time to think about where you can put your coding skills to work. Job postings for computer programmers and calls for coding skills can be found at almost every company across the globe. Good to know: Some entry-level jobs offer on-the-job training, and you can essentially get paid to learn to code.

The healthcare tech sector has taken off, and this is a trend that beginner coders should watch. Certainly, the pandemic has made it easier to work from home, and coding naturally lends itself to remote work, opening up more job markets in far-flung locations. Even pre-pandemic, medical billing and medical coding were among the 20 fastest-growing tech occupations in the U.S. Now, with the boom in telemedicine and a growing need for data management, health tech remains a promising field for computer science. Vaccine passports and patient privacy concerns present perfect case scenarios for the problem-solving skills inherent in coding and are poised to create opportunities in both public and private sectors. From health data technicians to mobile app developers, the ways to make money coding in health tech are only set to grow. We see the potential for even more innovation because programmers have only begun to push the boundaries at the intersection of medicine and computer science.

Even though a lot of companies have suffered from the pandemic, our data show that the jobs for coding have not been affected nearly as much as other fields. Businesses previously without an online presence are now migrating towards it, giving programmers and coders plenty of new work.

One of our lead instructors, Arwa Lokhandwala, takes stock of the Singapore job market and notes that coding roles can pay very well, adding that, “There are both salaried and hourly options available, and you can also freelance your skills over several freelancing sites.” About half of her students in our Introduction to Coding course are looking for a career change and want to know how hard it is to break into coding. “I think the most difficult thing is the change in mindset when you move from other fields into coding. Keep practicing and keep learning. As long as you are skilled in what you do, the job market will be good to you.”

Most beginner coders know that building websites and web development are avenues now open to them, with even more demand for building mobile applications. Coding opportunities in gaming and game development show no signs of slowing down either. Traditional sectors like finance and banking are ramping up their software development and have a growing need for coders, as more of our day-to-day happens on the go and on our phones. Education has long been a sector ripe for disruption, with the pandemic sending everyone from school administrators to test providers scrambling to adopt technology in new ways.

Data visualization, machine learning, and artificial intelligence are some of the most exciting spaces for coding professionals right now. These fields are breaking new ground, and often, that’s where many thrill-seeking coders want to be.

The high demand for jobs with well-paying salaries is just one of the attractions for coders. Coding draws on problem-solving skills and attracts the intellectually curious. When computer programming is done right, it never gets boring because you are always learning new things. 

“I was attracted to coding because there is a lot of demand for programming,” says Shahzad Khan, who leads our Software Engineering Immersive in Austin, Texas. “But I also wanted to find a job that satiated my problem-solving skills and forced me to keep learning every day.”

Real-world applications of coding are everywhere, but that doesn’t always make them easy to spot. There are ways to make money coding that may not be on your radar yet. Khan names a few less-obvious career opportunities like working with electrical grid systems, charting airplane trajectories, and exploring space. “These days, anything that requires the internet is an application of coding.”

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Want to learn more about Arwa?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/arwalokhandwala-b831b/
https://www.instagram.com/code.with.arwa/

Want to learn more about Shahzad?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahzadkhanaustin/
https://flawgical.medium.com

How to get better at coding

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You’ve got the coding basics, so what’s the next step? 

Arwa Lokhandwala is a lead instructor at our Singapore campus and also a full-stack web developer deploying scalable web applications that handle an average daily request load of up to a million queries. We asked her about the challenges of learning a programming language — what separates the amateur from the master?

“The mindset. Coding is hard, and it takes multiple attempts in the beginning to understand concepts,” she says. “That’s completely normal. Keep practicing every day, and don’t compare yourself with anybody else.”

One surefire way to get better at coding is by enrolling in a coding bootcamp. These totally Immersive courses are proven to jumpstart your coding skills, and you’ll come away with huge strides in proficiency. The Software Engineering Immersive (SEI) is our most popular 12-week coding bootcamp. All-day, every day, it’s a clear-your-schedule kind of course with commensurate benefits.  

Learning to code is often compared to learning a new language. In the same way that living in a foreign country is the fastest way to learn that country’s language, the immersion of a bootcamp is the fastest way to learning a new programming language and honing your coding skills.

Often getting better at coding means taking on a coding challenge and making lots of mistakes. The learning process at GA involves breaking problems down into small, solvable chunks. “People often are not used to that,” says Shahzad Khan, SEI bootcamp instructor. “You have to be okay with failing and being wrong. Learn to be patient with yourself. You learn by speaking it and by writing in it. Initially, you will sound terrible and use incorrect grammar, but as you speak and write it more, talk to more people, get feedback, and continue to improve, you will eventually feel comfortable with it.” 

The best indicator of success in all coding courses is a willingness to practice. “You can sit and think about a particular coding concept for hours and understand why it works the way it does, but it won’t do you any good until you actually build something using that concept. So, implement what you learn as soon as possible.”

Computer programming can inspire philosophical thinking at its best. If this sounds like coding and its practice can become something of a life philosophy for coders, it is. “To learn coding, you have to open yourself up to feeling like a child again. You have to unlearn some things. It can be an uncomfortable process. Usually, people find it too difficult because it makes them feel too uncomfortable. If you face that discomfort, you can learn anything.”

To get better at coding, coding courses and coding bootcamps can give you the time and focus to chart your path to success. They also provide the environment and community to foster that learning. There is very real work to be done, practice, and lots of iteration. But there is also the metaphysical aspect that famous programmers talk about. You can become a better coder by understanding their insights, too. Like this one by Martin Fowler, software developer and author of nine books, ”Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.” And this one from John Johnson, “First, solve the problem. Then, write the code.”

So whether you’re ready to take the plunge with one of our Immersive coding bootcamps or you’re trying to solve a thorny work problem with code, remember to heed Khan’s advice and be patient with yourself. “Coding takes time and practice. You have to believe in yourself. You also need to be comfortable with being vulnerable. If you don’t open yourself up, you will resist change, and that will infiltrate your learning process.“

Explore Coding Workshops

Want to learn more about Arwa?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/arwalokhandwala-b831b/
https://www.instagram.com/code.with.arwa/

Want to learn more about Shahzad?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahzadkhanaustin/
https://flawgical.medium.com

What Makes JavaScript So Popular

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Our lives today are dependent on the interactivity that JavaScript provides. If you want to really see how much you depend on it, you can disable JavaScript in your browser for a day. Some pages will load quicker, they’ll be cleaner, you’ll have less ads, no pop-ups, and the battery life of your computer may last longer. But also parts of the webpages simply will not work. Neither will Netflix, YouTube, Google Docs, Google Maps, and much more. We are, to a good degree, dependent on JavaScript to function. Today, virtually every computing device including iPhones, Android phones, MacOS, Windows, Linux, smart TVs, etc.. in the world have JavaScript interpreters installed on them and in active use.

There are over 1.8 Billion websites in the world, and JavaScript is used on 95% of them. 

The popularity of JavaScript over the years.

JavaScript is by far the most used language according to Github’s 2020 Octoverse Report.

So how did JavaScript get this big? Why did it get so popular? 

The creation story of JavaScript is the foundation of its popularity. 

It begins in the year 1995 at the Netscape headquarters, where young Brendan Eich goes into a ten day sprint of coding and comes out on the other side with a new language. Wow!

As more people used browsers to use and experience the internet, there was a need for a programming language that would give life to the browser. Something that went beyond HTML and CSS. That’s where JavaScript came in to give life to the browser. It’s a language that is capable of doing what all other programming languages do but also has a special relationship with the browser. It changed the way we thought about the internet and ushered a new era of browser based applications. 

Easy setup 

Unlike many other languages, where you need to go download the language in your machine in order to access all of its features and create a development environment, with JavaScript anyone with a web browser suddenly has a development environment right in front of them. Every browser supports JavaScript!  


You can simply open your browser, like Chrome, and navigate to Developer Tools, and start coding away! To write a “Hello World” program is as simple as: 

console.log(“Hello World”); 

You can also use an Integrated development environment (IDE) or code editor like Visual Studio Code where you can create a file with the file extension .js to write JavaScript. Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is more widely used to write code but there are other editors like Atom and Sublime Text which are quite common amongst developers.  

Event-based programming
One of the most impressive features of JavaScript is that it includes event-based programming. It has built-in events like ‘onClick’ and ‘onHover’ that wait for user interaction on a website before executing a specific segment of code. For instance, when you click the night-mode toggle, that is an event which triggers a JavaScript code segment that changes the CSS across the whole website from light colors to dark colors. 

JavaScript can be used to generate dynamic contents on a website as well. Different HTML tags can be generated based on user input. For instance, if you are on Facebook and you click into a comment box to type your comment on someone’s post, in that moment your click was an event that executed a code block in JavaScript that led to the generation of an HTML tag to display your comment.

End-to-end programming with Node.JS 

While JavaScript has been given the title of The Language of the Browser, in 2009 with the release of Node.JS, a runtime environment that runs JavaScript code outside a web browser changed the fate of the language. Node.JS lets developers use JavaScript to write server-side scripting. Consequently, JavaScript’s popularity was dramatically increased because Node.JS represents the idea of “JavaScript everywhere” paradigm, unifying all of web application development around a single programming language, rather having a different language for server-side and client-side scripts. 

In other words, now developers can use one single programming language to talk to databases, make HTTP requests, generate dynamic content, and create interactive user experiences/interfaces. This led to the Rise of Web Applications that we are experiencing today. In addition to having a unified web-application development, JavaScript also became the go-to language for many companies because now the engineering teams only had to worry about a single programming language which made it easier to debug and save costs in the overall development process. 

In 2013 AirBnb launched their site and became the first to utilize the full-stack JavaScript solution. This approach allowed for code to be executed on the server-side and rendered in the browser with subsequent actions being handled by the exact same code on the client side. This inspired several other companies to do the same and today we have products and services like LinkedIn, Netflix, Uber, PayPal, eBay, Groupon, GoDaddy, CitiBank and many more using Node.JS. 

JavaScript Libraries and Frameworks

The popularity of JavaScript led to the creation of several libraries and frameworks that have made application development efficient and performant. Today, libraries like React JS, jQuery, D3.js, etc.. are used in most applications across the world. Frameworks such as Angular, Ember JS, and Vue JS provide optimal performance and organization to build large applications. 

Active Community 

Amongst the programming languages, JavaScript has one of the largest communities according to Stackoverflow. In addition to that community, Node.JS has over a billion downloads across the world and is one the most widely used technologies. 

These are just a few of the reasons why JavaScript is so popular. With the change in paradigm that led to the rise of web applications, unifying the web application development, cross browser support, and the plethora of libraries/frameworks available, the world of the internet has been fully invested in the growth of JavaScript. Furthermore, since JavaScript is a high-level interpreted language that is easy to understand, it is the one of the best languages to learn if you want to enter the world of programming and explore the amazing possibilities of web-application development. 

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What is the power of JavaScript used for?

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At a high level, JavaScript is a scripting or programming language that allows you to implement complex features on web server pages, such as displaying timely content updates, interactive maps, animations, etc. JavaScript is used for all web-related software development. It is the most widely used and popular scripting language in the world for website building.

The power of the JavaScript framework is in its popularity, ease of use, and large community. It is one of the three core technologies of the World Wide Web (www), alongside HTML and CSS. Perhaps the most powerful thing about the JavaScript function is that it includes all of the features of a programming language embedded in your web browser. Unlike other programming languages, where you have to download the language in your machine and create an environment, the JS framework does not require that. If you have a web browser like Chrome, then you can write JavaScript.

Initially, the JavaScript framework was only on the client side of programming to create user interfaces and webpages’ interactivity. With the development of Node.js, JavaScript is not used in both client-side and server-side programming — this makes it extremely versatile and valuable for a web developer.

JavaScript is the standard programming language of the web, and everybody uses the software written in JavaScript. Virtually everyone who has an internet-connected device with a screen can use applications written in JavaScript markup language.

Popular Uses of JavaScript

Adding Interactive behavior to web pages: 

  • Show or hide information on a click event. 
  • Change the colors of a button when the mouse hovers over it.
  • Slide through a carousel of images. 
  • Zoom in and out on an image.
  • Display a timer or a countdown on websites. 
  • Play audio. 
  • Embed video. 
  • Display animations and visual effects.
  • Create pop-ups and modals 
  • Use a dropdown hamburger menu 
  • Client-side form validation.
  • Autocompletion.

Creating web and mobile applications:

  • Developers have access to a plethora of JavaScript frameworks for developing and building web and mobile device apps. JavaScript frameworks are collections of JavaScript code libraries that provide developers with pre-written js code to use for routine programming tasks. 
  • Popular front-end JavaScript frameworks include React, React Native, Angular, Vue, and Ember.js. 

Building web servers and developing server applications:

JavaScript is the backbone of modern web applications, but much like the human spine, it is quite flexible and liberal in what it allows. This can sometimes be seen as a disadvantage because it makes finding problems in programs harder. However, this flexibility allows a Javascript programmer to use many techniques that are not possible in more rigid programming languages.

A superpower of JavaScript is that it is easy to learn. It is widespread and supported by all browsers. Because it is a high-level language, it takes care of a lot of nitty-gritty programming for you, whereas in other low-level languages, you have to think about memory management, etc. In addition to being easy to learn, it is also easy to use. As long as you have a browser, you can write JavaScript to create rich web content.

Every programming language has some feature that separates it from other coding languages. In addition to all the amazing features of JavaScript, the one that stands out is how functions work in the language.

“Functions are the very best part of JavaScript. It’s where most of the power and the beauty of this language is.” — Douglas Crockford

Functions in JavaScript can be seen as workhorses. They play roles that other languages fulfill with multiple distinct features like procedures, methods, constructors, classes, and modules. All of these can be covered by the versatility of functions in JavaScript.

Finally, the most powerful feature of JavaScript is its community. It has one of the largest communities for any programming language. It is consistently ranked highest in Stackoverflow, Google searches, and GitHub issues. The amount of support for beginners is amazing!

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What is a JavaScript library?

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JavaScript is one of the most widely used programming languages in the world. It’s a scripting language used by developers to create interactive user interfaces that display dynamic content. It is s referred to as The Language of the Web Browser because it is the most commonly used language to build web applications and works well across all web browsers. 

As the popularity of JavaScript increased and more people were using it to build websites and applications, the JavaScript community recognized that certain patterns in the code were being used repeatedly to accomplish the same tasks.

This re-writing of code and recognizing that certain JS functions need to be implemented multiple times led to the development of JavaScript libraries and frameworks. For instance, reoccurring animations and interactive forms that appear in different places on a website or app were repetitive tasks that could be automated by using a code snippet as needed without writing code every time.

Generally speaking, JavaScript libraries are collections of prewritten code snippets that can be used and reused to perform common JavaScript functions. A particular JavaScript library code can be plugged into the rest of your project’s code on an as-needed basis. This led to faster development and fewer vulnerabilities to have errors.

jQuery 

There are many libraries and frameworks available to JavaScript developers today, but the concept of a JavaScript library was initiated with the creation of jQuery. jQuery is a JavaScript library designed to simplify HTML, DOM (Document Object Model) manipulation, and event handling, CSS animations, and Ajax. At the time, the jQuery library shortened the syntax and simplified the code, making it easy to understand and increased web developer productivity. 

All a web developer had to do was install jQuery and use prewritten code snippets to manipulate the virtual DOM. For example, if a developer wants to add an autocomplete feature in a search bar on their site, they would insert the appropriate jQuery code snippet into the project’s code. When a user enters text into the search bar, the jQuery code snippet retrieves the feature from the jQuery library and displays it in the user’s modern browser. 

React JS

In 2011, Facebook created a JavaScript library called React, which specializes in helping developers build user interfaces or UI’s. React

 JS is a web component-based library and an open source JavaSscript framework that helps developers design simple views for each state of the JavaScript application. React is also extremely smart in that it does a lot of heavy lifting in terms of efficiently updating and rendering the right components when there is a change in data or the state of the JavaScript application.

Today, React is the most popular JavaScript library, and companies use it all over the world like Uber, Airbnb, Facebook, Netflix, Instagram, Amazon, Twitter, and much more. 

The web component-based library allows developers to avoid the pitfalls of rewriting code and dealing with complicated debugging. With React, you can reuse and recycle different components across the web application or other products.

Components such as navigation bars, buttons, cards, forms, sections, and the like can all be reused like little building blocks that make the web application. A library like React dramatically increases the development speed with fewer bugs and makes extremely performant applications. 

Library vs. Framework 

Perhaps one of the most common topics of discussion in the software community is the difference between a library and a framework. As we see above, jQuery and React are libraries with prewritten code snippets that we can use and reuse to build applications.

So while JavaScript libraries are a specialized tool for on-demand use, JavaScript frameworks are a full toolset that helps shape and organize your website or application. In other words, libraries are about using what is needed for the task, while frameworks provide you with all the tools you could need even if you don’t particularly need all of them. 

Think of it like cooking some pasta. When using a JavaScript library, you simply grab the pot, pan, ingredients to make the pasta, and plates to serve. You only require only the things you need to make pasta. When thinking about a JavaScript framework, imagine an entire fully loaded kitchen. Another way to think about it can be that JavaScript libraries are like pieces of furniture that add style and function to an already constructed house. At the same time, frameworks are templates you can use to build the house itself. 

Examples of an open source JavaScript framework includes Angular, Ember JS, and Vue JS. These are some of the most popular frameworks with large communities and support systems. Frameworks provide a structure to base your entire application around, and developers can safely work within the structure’s rules.

The advantage of frameworks is the overall efficiency and organization. The disadvantage is that a developer has less freedom to work around the rules and conventions specific to a particular JS framework. Libraries, on the other hand, give developers more freedom to use different code and snippets but do not provide the type of structure and convention that comes with a framework.

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What is a JavaScript framework?

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A JavaScript framework is a collection of JavaScript code libraries that provide a web developer with pre-written code for routine programming tasks. Frameworks are structures with a particular context and help you create web applications within that context. 

It is completely possible to build strong web applications without JavaScript frameworks, but frameworks provide a template that handles common programming patterns. Each time you have to build an application, you don’t need to write code for every single feature from scratch. Instead, you can build upon an existing feature set. 

JavaScript frameworks, like most other frameworks, provide some rules and guidelines. Using these rules and guidelines, any developer can make complex applications faster and more efficiently than if they decided to build from scratch. The rules and guidelines help shape and organize your website or web application too!

For example, think about a potter’s wheel where you can build pots. The potter’s wheel is your framework; it has certain consistencies that you have to work with. The wheel rotates, and you can use that rotation to build pots of different shapes and sizes.

You can build pots, plates, cups, bowls, or even cylindrical sculptures. But you can’t build a house with it; you need to find a different framework for that. 

Framework vs. Library 

A common topic of discussion in the software community is the difference between a framework and a library. In truth, experts have suggested that the line between them can be blurry, but it is useful to make the distinction.

While a JS framework is a full toolset that helps shape and organize your website or application, a JS library, on the other hand, is a collection of pre-written code snippets that are less about shaping your application and more about providing a use-as-needed library of features. 

Model View Controller (MVC) 

Modern JavaScript frameworks use a software design pattern called Model–View–Controller. It is commonly used for developing user interfaces that divide related programming logic into three interconnected elements.

The model is the central web component of the pattern as it is the application’s dynamic data structure. It manages the data of the application.

The view consists of all the code that has to do with representing the application’s data — the code for the user interface.

The controller is the interpreter. It accepts inputs and converts them into commands for the model or view.

Frameworks are built around the MVC design pattern to provide structure and adaptability in software development. 

JavaScript is one of the most popular and widely used programming languages globally and has more frameworks than any other language. Since JavaScript is used for both client-side and server-side code, there are many frameworks to work with. Some of the most popular frameworks include: 

Front-End Frameworks

React

React.js is an efficient and flexible JavaScript library for building user interfaces created by Facebook. Technically, React is a JS library, but it is often discussed as a web framework and is compared to any other open source JavaScript framework.

React makes it easy to create interactive user interfaces because it has predictable JavaScript code that is easy to debug. Furthermore, it provides a REACT component system where blocks of JavaScript code can be written once and reused repeatedly in different parts of the application or even other applications. 

Angular

AngularJS is a popular enterprise-level JavaScript framework used for developing large and complex business applications. It is an open-source web framework created by Google and supported by both Google and Microsoft. 

Vue 

Vue.js is a progressive framework for building user interfaces. It is an up-and-coming framework that helps developers in integrating with other libraries and existing projects. It has an ecosystem of libraries that allow developers to create complex and solid single-page applications. 

Back-End Frameworks

Express 

Express.js is a flexible, minimalistic, lightweight, and well-supported framework for Node.js applications. It is likely the most popular framework for server-side Node.js applications. Express provides a wide range of HTTP utilities, as well as high-performance speed. It is great for developing a simple, single-page application that can handle multiple requests at the same time. 

Next.js

Next.js is a minimalistic framework that allows a a JavaScript developer to create a server-side rendering and static web applications using React.js. It is one of the newest and hottest frameworks that takes pride in its ease of use. Many of the problems developers experience while building applications using React.js are solved using Next.js. It has many important features included “out of the box,” and makes development a JavaScript breeze. 

In the current job market, the most popular JavaScript framework/library is React.js. Since JavaScript has so many frameworks, it can sometimes be hard to decide which one to start learning. You could start with any framework, but if your goal is to get a job, you will have better odds if you learn React first. The same can be said for Express.js as a back-end framework as it is the most widely used and sought-after framework. 

JavaScript frameworks are more adaptable for designing web applications and make working with JavaScript easier and smoother. This is why they are so popular among developers. A variety of frameworks exist because they can be applied to solve different problems. When choosing a framework, carefully consider your project requirements before deciding to implement any particular JavaScript framework. In addition to all the unique technical features of JavaScript frameworks, each framework comes with its own learning curve, community engagement/support, documentation, and compatibility. 

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