Svelte - Initial Thoughts
January 31, 2021
In the world of software development, trying to stay up to date on all the new frameworks, languages, etc, is about like trading the football in a running-back’s hands to a greesy watermelon. How difficult is a running backs job? I don’t know but it looks hard.
After I finished coding bootcamp I started to learn the Nextjs framework for React. Nextjs is 🔥. There are so many great things about it such as server side rendering and the file structure.
So, first of I have to say, I have nothing bad to say about Nextjs. There were many things that were not my favorite about React that Nextjs has taken care of in one way or another.
This is a blog about Svelte and that was the first time I mentioned Svelte. That feels a little off. But, maybe the simple early principle is this, there are many great frameworks out there and choosing one is up to you. Many people love Gatsby, which I have never played with. I really like Nextjs.
That being said, if Nextjs could be improved, it seems that Svelte is doing just that. 🤫 👀 Now just to be clear, I am just getting started with Svelte so these are, like the title says, initial thoughts.
I first heard about Svelte back in the Fall from a Senior Engineering who is a mentor to many and is doing awesome things in the Charleston, SC developer community, Tom Wilson. I will link to some of what Tom’s stuff, because it is awesome, but Tom held a workshop in the Fall of 2020 for Svelte.
One of the first things I noticed with Svelte was how quickly everything got up and running when I started the project.
- Side note: If you are looking for a good initial project, Auth0 has a great project to help you get started, not only with Auth0, but also Svelte. You can go to it (here)[https://auth0.com/blog/authenticating-svelte-apps/].
When I first started this project, Svelte was ready to go within, honestly, somewhere close to 45seconds. I remember when I first learned React, setting up a project with the initial command ‘npx create-react-app’ took minutes. Obviously those numbers are small for anyone who is patient (I wonder what I just said about myself), but the primary point is that you can get started quickly.
Also, as I have looked at a lot of .svelte files, I think svelte may be a great next step for anyone who learns HTML, CSS, and Javascript because you do not really have to learn ‘a new thing’. Obviously there are things that you need to learn about svelte and the unique pieces of its framework, BUT, it is much easier of a transition because .svelte files read like your html files with script and style tags in it. So, it may be a great next step for newer developers than a React.
I’ll probably write more blogs on this, but one of the nicest things that Svelte seems to have addressed is all the changing of State and such in React that makes for quite the headache, especially if you are writing a larger application that changes state frequently. Svelte is built around a compiler, which in my very simple understanding, compiles all everything down to javascript. This makes your application really small.
Anyways, these are just initial thoughts but overall I can say this, the future is very bright for Svelte and SvelteKit and I plan on using Svelte as my primary framework going forward. If a Senior Engineering takes time to tell you something is good, listen.
So, thanks Tom!
Here are ways that you can follow Tom Wilson and his work.
