A competitive, useful application is a basis for scaling a business, promoting it among similar ones, and increasing profitability. However, in order to create an interesting, viable product, it is important to pay quite much attention to the development process itself, introducing current trends in the work. Integration of the latest technological innovations ensures attraction of more users and, accordingly, strengthening of the position in the market.
Single-page SPA applications with React.js, Vue.js, and Svelte.js frameworks have been created by developers for several years already. But now that programmers are resorting to working with frameworks, there has been a noticeable trend of moving applications from the client side (CSR) to server-side rendering (SSR). The latter is actively used today while working with JavaScript frameworks.
A framework is a set of libraries with its own architecture, which is used in standard programming tasks. Which frameworks can be seen as trendy in 2024?
In recent years, server-side rendering (SSR) with meta frameworks has become more relevant. If earlier Java (JSP, Ruby on Rails) was used for SSR, now JavaScript has become the main tool. For some time, there has been a relatively equal application of SSR and SSG patterns, which are responsible for optimal performance. However, due to the requirements for dynamic content in web applications, SSR is preferred, where the assembly is performed on demand for each request with separate data on the server, in contrast to SSG.
To sum up, it was possible to claim that just a few years ago, they resorted to simple rendering templates, such as SSG and SSR. Today, thin versions of ISR and SSR, partial hydration with React server components, progressive hydration, architecture islands (Astro) for isolated applications, and multi-page application components are becoming more relevant.
Rendering with SSR and SSG is closely related to the trend of serverless computing at the edge, as it is based on performance and aims at the seamless user experience in the browser.
In general, serverless features have been among the notable trends in cloud computing for a long time already. This is the case when the developer does not need to work with the server and maintain related tasks, and deploying a single function is enough. Since serverless features mean that they can be deployed worldwide, it is desirable that they are deployed as close to the user as possible – in this way, the user experience will be better.
Edge features are characterized by faster SSR/SSG content serving, as well as fast caching. In addition to improved performance, the other benefit of serverless features is reduced cost, for example, by filtering out unnecessary activities at the edge.
The use of serverless functions actualized another problem: too many connections were opened due to a large amount of serverless functions, the number of which correlated with the number of connections. A connection pool provided by a third-party contractor could be the solution. For this reason, serverless databases PlanetScale (MySQL), Neon (PostgreSQL), and Xata (PostgreSQL) are created. In serverless computing, they provide edge caching or a distributed read-only database that moves data closer to the user and reduces the interval.
Read also: Databases for your application: analysis of the best modern solutions.
If not only the distribution of the database but also the application is needed, the Fly.io service performs these tasks in a package. It is closer to Firebase BaaS standard with open-source Supabase. The service includes application/database hosting, authentication, and edge functions.
Native JavaScript runtime is another trend in the development world. Deno, one of Node's successors, comes with similar APIs, TypeScript, and a V8 engine. Later, the Deno business model became the blueprint for building custom JavaScript environments. Such solutions have a number of advantages: the native runtime environment is optimized for its infrastructure.
When errors occur, there is a situation of lacking the same support in all runtimes when deployed on different cloud providers. In this regard, all providers have joined Winter CG to direct their efforts toward API compatibility between runtimes.
Previously, mono repositories were used in large projects that contained smaller ones. Today they have entered the practice of working with small companies and open-source products. Packages in a mono repository can range from common user interface elements to commonly used utility functions.
Attitudes towards Utility-First CSS vary dramatically: some complain about its bulkiness in user interface code, and others praise good DX. To integrate a component, the developer performs the configuration once in the project and immediately applies the predefined CSS in the HTML. Since the use of solutions like CSS-in-JS turns into a long execution time, against the backdrop of a trend towards the greater performance of SSR, transitions to Utility-First CSS (Tailwind CSS, UnoCSS) or other alternative solutions — CSS modules, etc. increase.
The development of JavaScript and TypeScript does not stop, and here E2E type safety does not lose its relevance. Although this task is more difficult to implement at the communication API level required to connect typed objects.
To connect client-server schemes, REST and GraphQL solutions are traditionally applied. At the same time, RPC is becoming more and more popular. With its help, one can export all types of backends to an external application without creating an intermediate schema. Further, through the external interface, the backend API is called out using typed functions.
In React-land, create-react-app remained the most popular for a long time, which allowed beginners to do without setting up Webpack. But in recent years, this approach has lost its relevance. Instead, Vite, a fresh take on one-page offers, came. It is compatible with all popular frameworks. The performance borrowed from the build, written in Go, makes it possible to build dozens of times faster than similar components.
The even younger competitor to Vite is Vercel's Turbopack, which is likely to be the best addition to Next.js in the future due to the common developer.
Mobile app development with AI is likely to become a new trend. There is no talk of a full-fledged replacement for the work of a programmer yet, but the release of GitHub Copilot made it possible for a developer to write code together with AI.
Read also: Unleashing the Power of AI in Crafting Next-Generation Mobile Apps
ChatGPT from OpenAI also solves programming problems: this has been proved by the experience of some developers who have replaced StackOverflow with the service. Nevertheless, it is recommended to consider ChatGPT as a good alternative, rather than the main solution, since the service does not always give perfect results in terms of the meaning and form of responses, which is caused by the need to analyze a larger volume of SEO spam.
What must-have trend in web development in 2024 is what the specialists of the SDH know. Our team implements projects in such areas as healthcare, accounting, telemedicine, security systems, online education, etc. Mastering new tools and solutions, we take a comprehensive approach to creating a new product and introduce those technologies that are expedient and allow us to achieve the project's goals effectively.
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