We can agree that state management is complex, no matter how it’s done. If you disagree, cool go build a database.
Of all the complexities around state management, the one squarely placed at the top for me is: time.
State is a variable you care about, that will change over time.
Signals and Hooks/Effects present two very different approaches to the problem.
They both require updating your mental model, and they both have specialised tooling.
Myself, I’ve never fully grokked observables/signals—particularly in relation to a UI. They shift complexity into a location that I think makes them harder to reason about.
I did take to the React approach with Components and hooks. And in my experience so did many others.
I disagree with the article saying all frameworks must have signals, and I appreciate the React core team holding their ground on that.
It’s healthy for the ecosystem to have frameworks built on different ideas, otherwise why build a new framework?
But React, if you added signals I think you would warp it’s entire foundational paradigm.