It's really exciting when we get to learn something new in life. For me, this process gives me helpful doses of endorphins, although sometimes I have to experience some shots of cortisol first 😂. But I guess those hardships make the victory even sweeter, right?
I'm walking along this kind of road now at my work. I have been recently given a project wherein it was up to me to explore the right technology to execute the needed functionality for the implementation. Hours of research and lots of googling led me to the vast world of JavaScript libraries (and more!). It was my first time to have a closer look at all the current technologies we have now, and it was fascinating to learn more about some terms that I usually just encounter in passing.
💡 Take away #1: there's a difference between a library and a framework. I tend to use these two terms interchangeably when describing a group of reusable code, but apparently there's a distinction between them. This article sums it up adequately. The variation really just comes down to the level of control that the developer has in implementing those reusable codes.
My research introduced me to the following:
What is Material Design, you ask? |
💡 Take away #2: There's a difference between Bootstrap and MD Bootstrap, mainly that one is open-source and the other one is paid. Here's a good article that differentiates them.
💡 Take away #3: jQuery is different from jQuery UI.
Just like with Bootstrap and MD Boostrap, I got confused again with these two because of how similar the names are. Although essentially jQuery UI is made out of jQuery, using each of them in a project would be entirely different implementation-wise.
💡 Take away #4: There are a ton of CSS frameworks out there, and the most commonly used are Preact, React, Angular and Vue.
I have heard about React and Angular, but actually I was just familiar with the names because the team has used in other projects in the past. This is the first time that I was actually diving deep into these technologies. Again as part of my research, I had to know more about these technologies and how they differ from each other.
Click here from some Preact introduction. |
💡 Take away #5: Having similar names doesn't mean they are the same, and having different names also doesn't mean they are different. Gets? 😆
React and React JS are one and the same.
React JS and React Native are not the same.
Angular and AngularJS are not the same.
React JS and React Native are not the same.
Angular and AngularJS are not the same.
With these takeaways, I learned to really do the work of researching and exploring more about every technology available. Imagine, I had to present this to the senior director! Actually regardless of the audience, I have to know what I'm talking about. Especially in this case wherein everything is new to me, I really had to do the work and study everything.
All in all, the proof-of-concept presentation went well. I proposed the usage of an open-source jQuery plugin for the project. I am very much looking forward on how things will progress with this project.
I hope I can handle a similar task again in the future! I really enjoyed it. 🤓
~o~
Other References:
Wikipedia
Wikipedia