SolidJS is a declarative JavaScript UI library emphasizing performance through fine-grained reactivity. It compiles to real DOM nodes and uses explicit reactive primitives, avoiding the virtual DOM overhead common in other frameworks. This approach results in efficient updates, minimal memory usage, and excellent performance, particularly for complex and dynamic applications. SolidJS also offers features like JSX templating, server-side rendering, and a compact API, making it a powerful and efficient alternative for building user interfaces.
The SolidJS homepage introduces SolidJS as a declarative JavaScript library specifically designed for building user interfaces. It emphasizes performance and simplicity as its core tenets, achieved through fine-grained reactivity and efficient rendering strategies. SolidJS leverages a reactive system inspired by reactive principles found in frameworks like KnockoutJS and MobX, but compiles its templates down to real DOM nodes and updates through direct DOM manipulation, bypassing the need for a virtual DOM.
The homepage highlights several key features that contribute to its performance and ease of use. Firstly, it boasts "true reactivity," meaning that updates are precise and surgical, only affecting the specific parts of the DOM that depend on changed data. This fine-grained reactivity eliminates unnecessary re-renders, a common performance bottleneck in other frameworks. This is contrasted with virtual DOM diffing, which, while offering a declarative approach, can introduce performance overhead, especially with complex updates. SolidJS argues its approach results in consistently high performance, often outperforming virtual DOM-based counterparts.
Secondly, SolidJS champions its small bundle size and minimal overhead. The library is designed to be lightweight, minimizing the amount of code shipped to the browser, contributing to faster initial load times and a smaller memory footprint. This efficiency extends to its runtime performance, where it strives for minimal overhead in managing updates and maintaining reactivity.
The homepage demonstrates the conciseness and familiarity of SolidJS's syntax, using JSX for templating. It shows how components are defined as plain JavaScript functions and how reactivity is integrated using primitives like createSignal for reactive variables and createEffect for side effects. This functional approach combined with JSX aims to provide a developer experience that is both intuitive and powerful.
Furthermore, SolidJS emphasizes isomorphic capabilities, enabling server-side rendering (SSR) and client-side hydration. This allows for optimized initial page loads by rendering the initial UI on the server and then seamlessly transitioning to client-side interactivity, improving perceived performance and SEO.
The homepage also showcases a comprehensive ecosystem around SolidJS, including routing solutions, state management libraries, and developer tooling. This signifies a mature and actively developed ecosystem designed to support complex application development. Finally, it invites developers to explore further through detailed documentation, interactive tutorials, and examples, positioning itself as a robust and accessible solution for modern web development.
Summary of Comments ( 137 )
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43734911
Hacker News commenters generally expressed positive sentiment towards SolidJS, praising its performance, small bundle size, and resemblance to React's functional components with JSX. Several pointed out its efficient use of fine-grained reactivity, comparing it favorably to Svelte's compiled approach and noting its potential for better performance in complex updates. Some questioned its relatively smaller community and ecosystem compared to React or Vue, but acknowledged its growing popularity. A few experienced users shared positive anecdotes about using Solid in production, highlighting its speed and ease of debugging. Some discussion revolved around its similarity to KnockoutJS, with some suggesting Solid as a modern successor. There was also interest in its server-side rendering capabilities and potential for broader adoption.
The Hacker News thread linked discusses SolidJS, a reactive JavaScript library for building user interfaces. The discussion is fairly active with a variety of perspectives on the framework.
Several commenters praise Solid's performance, often comparing it favorably to React, Vue, and Svelte. One commenter highlights Solid's efficient use of fine-grained reactivity, arguing that it leads to better performance, especially in complex applications. They appreciate that updates are very targeted and don't cause unnecessary re-renders. Another user echoes this sentiment, emphasizing Solid's ability to surgically update the DOM, which they see as a key advantage. This theme of performance and efficiency appears repeatedly in the thread, establishing it as a core strength perceived by many commenters.
Some discussion revolves around the learning curve of Solid. While some find it relatively easy to grasp, particularly those coming from a React background, others note the need to adjust to its unique reactivity model. One commenter mentions the initial hurdle of understanding Signals, Solid's core reactive primitive, but emphasizes that the effort pays off in terms of performance gains. Another user points out the potential confusion stemming from Solid's use of JSX, which while similar to React's, has subtle differences in how it handles reactivity.
The topic of developer tooling and ecosystem maturity also comes up. One commenter expresses a desire for better debugging tools tailored specifically for Solid's reactive system. Others acknowledge that while the ecosystem is smaller than React's or Vue's, it is growing steadily. There's a mention of Solid's relatively small bundle size, which is seen as a benefit for performance and initial load times.
A few comments touch upon the comparison between Solid and Svelte. One user highlights the difference in their compilation strategies, noting that Svelte compiles components into highly optimized vanilla JavaScript, while Solid relies on its runtime reactivity system. Another commenter suggests that Solid's approach might offer more flexibility in certain scenarios.
Several users appreciate Solid's commitment to staying small and focused, contrasting it with the larger, more feature-rich frameworks like React. They see this as a positive aspect, believing it leads to a more maintainable and understandable codebase. Finally, the creator of SolidJS, Ryan Carniato, actively participates in the thread, answering questions and addressing concerns raised by commenters. His involvement is appreciated by the community and contributes to a productive discussion.