React vs. Vue : Comparing JavaScript Frameworks from a Beginner’s Perspective

Sammanfattning: JavaScript has become the dominant programming language for web application development during the last few decades, being used by 98.5% of the websites worldwide. This prominence has led to the emergence of several frameworks for this language, with React and Vue being among the popular choices. However, there is no research specifically comparing these frameworks from a beginner’s perspective when creating simple web applications. The purpose of this thesis is to map out similarities and differences between React and Vue in terms of performance and ease of use for beginners. To accomplish this, two identical web applications were developed using React and Vue, respectively. These applications were designed to require only a general understanding of programming concepts and no prior experience with the mentioned frameworks, while having a target build size ranging from 40-60 KB. The development process for each framework was documented, capturing the time invested and challenges encountered. A qualitative approach was adopted to assess performance, leveraging quantifiable data gathered from the developed applications, while ease of use was evaluated through the lens of a beginner. The findings indicate that while React exhibited 12% faster overall execution time and 4% faster memory allocation, the performance gap was narrower than previous research suggested due to the smaller size of the applications. On the other hand, Vue was found to be more beginner-friendly, requiring 21.3% less development time to achieve the same application functionality. These findings aid beginners in selecting the most suitable framework based on their priorities and contribute to the understanding of React and Vue in the context of simple web application development.