Comment: VCs have gone wild for back-end developer-oriented technologies, but front-end technologies such as Next.js are getting hot.
Image: iStockphoto / ijeab
It is almost a cliché to point out that so much software is nowadays built on or with open source. But Ian Massingham recently reminded me that for all the attention we pay to back-end technologies – Linux, Docker containers, Kubernetes, etc. – front-end open source technologies actually require more attention from developers.
Much of the front-end magical open source software that developers nowadays love was born in early web giants such as Google and Facebook. Front-end frameworks make it possible for Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Airbnb and others to quickly iterate, scale, respond consistently and, in general, satisfy users in particular. Indeed, their whole companies depend on great user experiences.
Although venture investors have plowed their funds in the past in back-end startups that have made open source software, the same is not nearly true with the front-end. Accel, Benchmark, Greylock and other top classes have made a fortune by supporting enterprise open source software startups such as Heroku, MuleSoft, Red Hat and many more.
Is it time for the front end?
Create frames
When I think of front-end software, I think of frameworks. Frameworks contain a large number of pre-built components that allow developers to easily extend and customize the application they write – usually in JavaScript. As such, they are a very powerful tool in the development of modern web and mobile applications. From Facebook and Google to Netflix and Twitter, frameworks are responsible for their continuous operation by offering and giving their users a great experience.
SEE: How to build a successful career for developers (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
Looking at data from GitHub, it is clear that two front-end frameworks are emerging as the most popular tools for developers (more than 120,000 GitHub stars): React and Vue. The once popular Angular appears to be in secular decline. The same signal comes from the sound of the popularity of Google Search (Figure A).
Figure A
Image: Matt Asay (via Google Trends)
React was born in Facebook in 2011, the work of Jordan Walke, and was released as open source two years later. React has been embraced by a who’s who of internet giants and global companies. Vue . not so much (although Alibaba is certainly a giant), but it is loved by developers for its performance and beginner-friendliness. It was released as open source in 2014 by Evan You, a former Googler who wanted to improve Angular.
Such frameworks help to bring the power of Google and Facebook internal tools to front-end developers on the open web.
Improve on Respond
Within the React world there is an open source framework that quickly gets an impressive developer named Next.js, probably the most popular component within React. Written by wunderkind developer Guillermo Rauch – who also gave us Mongoose, MooTools, Socket.io – is the starting point of Next.j’s simplicity. Rauch found making React apps and websites too annoying, so he built a framework that removes almost all the complexity of an app or website.
SEE: Open source versus own software: pros and cons (TechRepublic Premium)
How come? Well, Next.js removes the need to set up CI, SSL, DNS, socket configuration, server provision, etc. – with one command, a developer can launch a React app and build with another command. All React components that are required for the app or website are contained in files specified by an API. This not only simplifies development, but the performance is fast, even on a web scale.
It is a new infrastructure for the front-end developer. Given approval from Hilton Hotels, Zillow, Adidas, Twitch, Nike, Uber and more, it finds an enthusiastic audience.
Google frameworks lead Nicole Sullivan, praised Next.js during the JAMstack_conf_19 in San Francisco in October. Although React started within Facebook (and AngularJS started within Google), developers are less concerned with origin and more focused on direction. Google Chrome has a mandate to make the Internet faster, she said, and React-centric Next.js is part of that mandate. Rauch also received a walk-on presentation last month during the keynote address at Google’s Chrome Dev 19 conference in San Francisco.
Of course, back-end technologies remain a major problem for developers and VCs who continue to try to anticipate their next pull request. But the interest of Google and others in front-end technologies such as Next.js is a signal that front-end technologies are just as hot (or hotter).
revelation: I work for AWS, but my work is not directly or indirectly related to anything in this article.
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