[December 06, 2018] |
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npm Announces 2019 Predictions for JavaScript
npm,
Inc., which runs the world's largest software registry and maintains
the 'npm' software development tool, today announced JavaScript
predictions for 2019 and beyond, informed by the company's report, This
Year in JavaScript.
It can be difficult to predict how an ecosystem as large, varied and
dynamic as JavaScript will evolve, but npm, Inc. Co-founder and Chief
Operating Officer Laurie Voss predicts the following in 2019:
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Developers will abandon one of their current tools. Frameworks
and tools don't last in JavaScript. The average framework has peak
popularity of three to five years, followed by years of slow decline
as organizations maintain legacy applications but move to newer
frameworks for new work. Developers should be prepared to learn new
frameworks, and not hold on to current tools too tightly.
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React will continue to be the dominant framework. While 60%
market share for a web framework is unheard of, this is partly because
React isn't a full framework; it's part of one. This fact allows it to
flexibly cover more use cases. If a developer is building a web app in
2019, React will lend a big advanage in terms of tutorials, advice
and bug fixes.
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Developers will need to learn GraphQL. It might be too early to
put GraphQL into production, especially if an organization's API is
already done, but 2019 is the year to get up to speed on the concepts
of GraphQL. There's a good chance developers will be using them in new
projects later in 2019 and beyond.
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A developer within each organization will introduce TypeScript.
An npm, Inc. survey of over 16,000 members of its developer community
discovered an adoption rate of over 50% for Microsoft (News - Alert), Inc.'s
programming language, a rate that implies that TypeScript has grown to
become more than just a tool for enthusiasts. Real people are getting
real value out of the extra safety provided by type-checking. In
particular, members of larger teams should seriously consider adopting
TypeScript in projects in 2019.
npm's report, due to be updated in the first quarter of 2019, was
compiled in partnership with the JS Foundation and the Node.js
Foundation. It reveals that JavaScript is the world's most popular
programming language. While 93% of respondents use the language to write
code for the web, a still-substantial 70% say they write JavaScript that
runs on servers such as Node.js.
Other key takeaways include:
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Security concerns: For many developers, npm has simply become
the way to build websites. The survey revealed that 77% of respondents
said they were concerned about the quality and security of the open
source libraries they use, while 52% said the tools currently
available were inadequate.
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Demographics: In the npm community, 25% of developers have been
using JavaScript for less than two years, while 51% have been using
npm for less than two years-a side effect of the community doubling in
size during that time. Nearly 70% of npm users mostly taught
themselves JavaScript, while 22% learned on the job.
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React/GraphQL growth continues: React continues to dominate the
web scene. Over 60% of survey respondents say they use React, although
growth in 2018 has been slower than in 2017. Meanwhile, GraphQL
adoption numbers continue to explode, driven by the popular client
library Apollo.
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Transpiler popularity: Babel is the transpiler choice for 65%
of npm users, given its versatility outside the React ecosystem.
Surprisingly, nearly 50% of developers reported using TypeScript, the
type-checked JavaScript variant from Microsoft.
About npm, Inc.
npm, Inc., founded in Oakland, California, in 2014 by Isaac Z. Schlueter
and Laurie Voss, maintains the npm package manager for JavaScript and
hosts the world's largest software registry. Created in 2009 as an
open-source package manager for Node.js, npm has been embraced by
millions of developers worldwide for client- and server-side
applications as diverse as IoT, mobile development, financial services
and aerospace. More than 150,000 companies, including BBC, Coinbase,
eBay (News - Alert), Electronic Arts, Nvidia and Slack, rely on npm's products and
services to reduce developer friction and build amazing things.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181206005188/en/
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