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Comment by ndc | Hacker News Reader

Wait, react is a framework now? People used to say that react is just a model binding library. FYI I haven't used react.

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"React is actually a library, not a framework" is definitely a thing people have said here and there since its inception. It's a distinction that doesn't seem to buy anything in terms of explanatory power or clarity, so I tend to ignore it.

I think it's a shortcut for saying that react doesn't have an 'official' routing library (like vue-router) and state management library (like vue's pinia). So depending on what you choose to manage routing / state, one react app can be quite different from another.

Maybe nowadays there is a set of popular libraries for react so it becomes framework-y?

Vue-Router and Pinia have always been optional add-ons for Vue too, however, yet the Vue ecosystem seemed to to fine without those "aaakshually“ kinds of people that feel the need to micro-manage other people’s speech.

Generally the difference between a library and a framework is that you can use bits and pieces of a library to add functionality to your project.

A framework expects most of your project to be shoehorned into it.

Whether something is one or the other depends on which of the two most users are doing. It's not a very interesting argument, though, because debating semantics is the worst use of the limited time you have on this planet.

you can use React like a library, but I have never really seen it done.

Depends on the definition.

jQuery isn’t a “framework” either, at least not like Angular or Vue, though it can be extended with “plugins.”

Both jQuery and React are foundational technologies, so comparison is valid.

jQuery isn’t exactly a “framework” either, at least not like Angular or Vue, though it can be extended with “plugins.”

Both jQuery and React are foundational technologies, and comparison is valid.

Yep, react is indeed a library. Part of the confusion comes from a fact that react community was keen to hijack "react" name and slap it onto their own projects, for example there were react router, react query, react table, etc., so one could have get a feeling that react was like full-fledged framework, while most of these "react" projects were not affiliated with react the library in any way.

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