Overview

In the last two decades, JavaScript (JS) has become one of the popular languages in programming. New features, style guides, libraries pop up almost every day and one should cope up with this new emerging development. JavaScript UI Frameworks and Libraries make it easier for developers to build clean and consistent User Interfaces (UI). The question here arises that how developers choose the libraries when they are beginners?  It is very hard to figure out which ones to use especially when you’re just started.

Simply understand now what are JavaScript frameworks and Libraries?

JavaScript (JS) Libraries –

Generally, a JS library is a reusable piece of code that oftentimes has one primary use case. A library can consist of several functions/objects/methods, depending on the language. Your library can “link” to an application to allow you access to that functionality.

JavaScript (JS) Frameworks –

JS framework has more control of your app. It helps direct you on the architecture and the project that follows. Frameworks consist of multiple libraries, and they provide you with hooks and callbacks, so you can continue to build upon them.

JavaScript frameworks and libraries are both useful and it’s a good idea to experiment and see which ones work best for you.

Which are the frameworks and libraries that EMBOLD uses?

Among different popular libraries, Embold uses:

• Utility JS Libraries
  • Underscore– Underscore is a utility library that consists of over 100 functions. These functions help to manipulate arrays, objects, and other functions.
    Underscore is an excellent library used by Embold especially helpful for delivering functionality!
  • jQuery– Unlike other libraries, jQuery is a feature-rich library that helps us to build interactive web pages.

• Library for Graphing and Visualizations
  • D3.js– Embold is data-driven, representing various statistics. The Data-Driven Documents, or D3.js, library is unique in that it puts the data first.
  • The main advantage of using this library is that it is extremely flexible for handling the content using SVG, HTML, and CSS.

Let’s see here an example of a Bubble chart visual representation used for partitioning in Embold. The partitioning editor breaks bigger components into smaller ones defining in-depth granularity.

• echarts- Another Javascript library used by Embold provides data visualization, interactive and customizable charts. It provides flexibility and gives very satisfying results.

Embold uses this heatmap to understand the overall quality of your software and identify different components. Read here for more details.

Embold uses these bubble charts to showcase the module dependency. This helps to visualize the dependencies between various components or packages. Get an insight into module dependency here.

Embold uses a pie chart to get the statistics of various languages.

• Monaco– The Monaco Editor is the code editor that powers VS Code. It is licensed under the MIT License and supports IE 9/10/11, Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera. Monaco Editor is a tool in the Text Editor category of a tech stack. Monaco Editor is an open-source tool.
  Monaco provides:
  • Out of the Box Intellisense
  • Accessibility
  • Power vscode, with all its features
  • Good support for none-monospace fonts

Embold uses this Monaco editor to show the files. Below is an example:

• 

Embold uses Monaco editor for the Pull Request feature to show the difference between a previous and an existing file. Get more info about pull requests from our doc’s portal here.

Frameworks used by Embold are:

• Bootstrap- This framework can be used by anybody who has basic knowledge of HTML and CSS. Embold integrates this framework because of its responsiveness, customized design layouts, the styling of elements required as per our needs.
  

• Angular– Angular is the typescript-based open-source web application framework used by Embold. This framework encourages developers to create custom libraries in JS by reducing Lines Of Code (LOC) and implementing complex functionalities easily.
  

• Node.js- It is an open-source platform that creates a runtime environment for developers basically to work on server-side and networking applications. This is highly scalable and portable.
  

Node.js allows JS to run on the Embold backend server.

Why use Node.js?

Node.js is used for a wide variety of applications in Embold:

1. Live chats
2. Data streaming
3. Rest APIs

Conclusion

Over other all languages, JavaScript still looks dominant language in this era and will continue to be the future of programming languages. Whether you’re a frontend or a backend developer, choosing a perfect library and framework for your project is essential.

Here, we at Embold write clean code releasing constantly new features. Thanks to JavaScript libraries and Frameworks!

So, what are some of your favorite JavaScript libraries and Framework? Don’t forget to comment below.