853: The State of Frontend

Wes and Scott kick off the episode discussing the newly released State of Frontend 2024 survey, which compiled responses from around 6,000 developers across 139 countries. The hosts express excitement about the rich insights the survey provides into current trends, frameworks, and technologies in web development, noting the survey's uniqueness as it represents a broader range of the industry.

The hosts dive into the survey results regarding frontend frameworks, with React emerging as the most used and liked framework at 70%. They discuss Svelte's impressive 25% usage rate and high interest for future learning, emphasizing the growing curiosity about newer technologies like HTMX. Wes and Scott analyze why some frameworks, while popular, have lower interest in usage compared to newer contenders.

In a discussion on rendering frameworks, Next.js takes the top spot at 52% usage, while frameworks like Astro and Remix garner attention for their unique approaches. The conversation transitions to state management tools, with the React Context API being the most commonly used, though the complexities around state management prompt discussions about user preference and industry trends.

The episode includes insights into the usage of libraries such as Lodash and jQuery, with Lodash leading in popularity. As the hosts explore data fetching technologies, Axios holds significant traction despite the emergence of native fetch, leading to discussions around preferences and reasons behind these choices.

Scott and Wes analyze the hosting landscape, noting Vercel and AWS as dominant players among developers. They note how continuous integration has shifted towards tools like GitHub Actions, challenging legacy services like CircleCI, as developers seek more integrated, simple solutions.

The episode wraps up with predictions on emerging trends. Performance leads the development priorities, while tools like GraphQL are predicted to face a decline in favor of simpler paradigms. The hosts encourage listeners to consider how these predictions align with their experiences in web development.

In the final moments of the episode, Wes and Scott share their personal recommendations, highlighting the Flighty iOS app and a candle warmer lamp as their 'sick picks.' They close by encouraging listener engagement through comments, especially on Spotify, where they can respond to comments directly.