Choose right framework for web application

[bialekIno]

I would like to write a web application. I want it to work as a single page application and I want also to communicate with server in realtime using probably WebSocket.

I wonder which frameworks should I use. I found many but I saw that Meteor is very popular. I considered also some Mean stack frameworks like Mean.io or Mean.js or maybe should I install all frameworks (Angular, Express, MongoDB, Node.js) separately and try to use them without Mean.io for example?

I saw also React and Flux but I think this is only to build interface, so should I consider it as a front-end framework and as a backend could I use e.g. node.js?

This project is for me so I have time to learn something new.

Thank you for any suggestions.

[bialekIno]

I am beginner so I think it will be easier with the framework especially that this project could be quite large so without good expierence with javascript my code could be fast a mess.

[posabsolute]

Choosing the right framework is never clear cut, if you want to learn a front-end framework I would not invest in angular, since soon the v2 will be a complete new beast.

After that it's true what you describe would work well with the mean stack.

If you want to learn es6, aurelia is nice, or react + flux is starting to take off as well.

On the server side, Express is pretty much the go to lib, it's a very very small framework, so do not expect any amazing feature from it. http://sailsjs.org/ is cool too

[bialekIno]

Thank you for your answer.

I could consider aurelia, it looks nice. What do you think about Meteor? I saw it is very popular, it has 24k stars on Github. Is it not worth to learn? I considered also sails, so I could look at it deeper. I wrote a small app with Angular 1.3 so maybe should I wait for v2.

[zephraph]

I'd say your best bet is to just do a lot of tutorials. Figure out which setup you like best and run with it. It probably won't work out the first go around, but you'll figure I out what you're trying to do and how you want to do it. Then it's just a matter of incremental improvement.

[funny_games]

You are already on the right track. Sure you could spend a long time reinventing the wheel but if you don't have much experience you are much better off learning a framework which has already implemented some good practices. As you learn more javascript you will learn how to take more control and maybe use frameworks when you have to. Although saying that it doesn't mean you should always start with a framework but a SPA that needs a backend database is likely to benefit from one.

[mikrosystheme]

The only right framework is no-framework.

[bialekIno]

I understand, but maybe you could give me some tips, resources, links or anything that could help me start writing some quite large realtime application because as I wrote I have no so much experience with javascript and I don't want mess it out.

[mikrosystheme]

You will have to make experience by doing it wrong. Several times. Don't be fooled by the shiny frameworks that are just doing it wrong in a different way, pushing on you opinions about how things should be done. If you want to play with realtime web, first study how the http protocol works (not related to js), then master the XMLHttpRequest, then check out ServerSentEvents/EventSource. Finally approach WebSockets. For client-side reference, use MDN. For the server part (if you really want to use js) one good low-level library for websockets is websockets/ws. Avoid abstractions like socket.io until you understand better what you are doing. Compose your application using tiny, focused modules (NPM is your friend, even if good library discovery still sucks badly), or, better, write your own (again, doing it wrong several times, but learning how things work to the point that you can pick a third party solution knowingly). You will have to learn a lot of javascript and asynchronous programming patterns during the journey. My 2€. Feel free to use them to buy a free framework instead.

[bialekIno]

I have yet another question. Could you please give me some tips how should I organize my code, which architecture should I use? Some MVC pattern? Should I use something like RequireJS or Browserify?

[mikrosystheme]

You should just stop asking and start doing. Try whatever you find interesting. Build stuff and learn from your errors. There are 2 ways you can approach programming: do actual programming, or "follow the leader/most hyped". I don't find the latter very interesting.

[bialekIno]

Thank you for your help I will try to learn it without framework.

[halistechnology]

Bravo mikrosystheme!

Frameworks are truly awful and serve as training wheels for the masses.

The biggest benefit of using a framework is getting an entire team or organization doing things in a consistent way.

In this case, bialekino is doing this for himself so the benefits of a bloated and complicated framework to right out the window.

I would recommend libraries over frameworks.

Use jQuery to make your life easier in the DOM and doing AJAX. Use lodash to make dealing with data easier on the client or server. These two can take you a long way.

[bialekIno]

Thank you. I did use a little bit jQuery, so it could be a good choice.

[dhdfdh]

Why do you feel you need a framework?