Comparison of Contemporary Web Application Development Framework

Majority of contemporary web developers possess their own list of frameworks as well as libraries actually allow the completion of their work speedily, efficiently and conveniently. These tools are used by them to work with. However, every programmer needs to be conscious of newest web development technologies, newest web application frameworks and implement them.

As the web grows and the adaptability of online space grows rapidly, the approach of creating feature-rich app gets significantly more complex. In present time, it is not so simple to contend customers with a fundamental online presence as everybody wishes to see you stay updated in accordance with the recent technological trends. Though, the burden of the web development could be decreased significantly provided your web application developers are knowledgeable with the recent web development frameworks.

In the field of web application development, a person requires to focus on several things in mind and not only on the front end, i.e. the visual appearance and feel of the site. Moreover, they even require focusing on some other aspects such as website’s security, database mapping, database access, web services, database configuration, caching, web APIs, web resources, web templates, and different other matters of the website. It is found that actually it is very tough task to focus on every matters of the website. With purpose to allow the web development, it is known that different web development frameworks prove to be very useful because it simplifies the procedure of web application development.

Because there are a vast number of web development frameworks obtainable presently, it could be an intimidating task for an individual to select the correct one for his/her upcoming web development project. Let’s have a look at different web application development frameworks of present time:

Django:

Django is basically a full-stack kind of open-source framework which is power-driven by Python as well as it supports the Python version up to 3.4. Here, the word full-stack suggests that it offers all the stuff that is required “out of the box”. It also produces an admin panel to configure the website without the need to edit the code – type of CMS but not actually CMS. Hence, you would probably don’t require any third-party framework in order to build a website.

It is known that in this framework, every essential feature is covered formerly. Moreover, Django follows a Model-Template-View (identical to MVC) architecture in order to divide views and logic. This framework’s advantage is utilizing Object Relational Mapper (briefly as ORM) for mapping objects of project with database tables. Django supports typical database engines (like PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, SQLite, DB2, SQL Server, and others with help of additional drivers), it creates migration amongst them very easily. Besides, you would not require rewriting or adapting the code as the framework would map everything on its own.

However, the framework comes with few drawbacks like it focuses excessively on backwards compatibility which decrease its development speed a bit. Moreover, many time it is difficult to integrate new glossy buzzwords inside the system. 

Check: Django Vs. Node.JS

Laravel:

When there is a discussion regarding backend web development frameworks, the framework –Laravel comes up front. Right from its launch in year 2011, this framework has depicted vivid path to web developers. It is basically a free and open-source type of PHP based web framework, designed for developing state-of-the-art web apps on the basis of model–view–controller (i.e., MVC) architectural pattern.

Few of the significant features of laravel framework are modular packaging system by help of dependency manager, multiple approaches for accessing relational databases, different utilities that benefit in application deployment along with maintenance, and also its orientation intended for syntactic sugar.

Ruby on Rails:

Ruby on Rails (alternatively known as Rails) is essentially a server-side website development framework which is written in Ruby programming language. The framework utilizes Model View Controller (MVC) as well as RESTful design in order to assist you with range of website application programming tasks. Because of its object-oriented based nature of programming, it is found that a huge number of open source codes are accessible and they could be utilized inside your own projects.

The aspect of the code reusability facilitates the web app development speedier and easier as compared to other frameworks. As compared to other programming language code, the Ruby on Rails code is found to be easily readable as well as it is self-documenting in majority of the incidences, which actually saves considerable amount of time because you need not to devote additional time behind the documentation process. The framework follows the coding conventions; hence it turns out to be very simple for firms to change developers and so you are not fixed with any single developer. When at any instant of time, if you feel the requirement of adding additional functionalities then it could be accomplished with great ease in this framework. As compared to other framework, this feature of Ruby on Rails lets your products to get developed faster and simpler.

YII:

YII framework is also a famous open-source type of PHP based framework that lets the development process of web applications comparatively faster and easier. YII features a component-depended architecture as well as offers solid caching support. The framework is developed with Model View Controller (MVC) pattern and basically it is an OOP (i.e., Object-Oriented Programming) framework. Moreover, it has range of features such as Internationalization and localization (I18N/L10N), DAO/ActiveRecord, authentication and role-based access control, caching, testing, scaffolding, etc. The aspect assures that the web development projects developed are at similarity to the approach of professional projects. It is found that any type of web application such as CMS platforms, forums, e-commerce websites, RESTful services, etc. can be easily developed through the use of YII.  Because it just requires the needful features and because it possesses the best caching support, the web applications developed through YII is comparatively faster.  Its features like output filtering, input validation, cross-site scripting prevention and SQL injection lets the website prepared by using YII protected from hackers.

Express:

Express.js is recognized as an open-source framework designed for Node.js in order to construct typical web applications with server side as well as API. Basically, it is a model server framework intended for projects that apply javascript over the backend. In case, you are novice to the field of web development and if you are just familiar with few javascript and fundamental tools like CSS, HTML, then this framework could be the simplest one to begin with.

The framework offers a straightforward interface to develop typical websites and webapps. Chiefly it benefits web developers to systematize the routing of the application you develop and utilize templates by implementing minimum efforts. The best part of this framework is that you need not to worry regarding low level protocols, procedures, etc. Contrasting to Django and Rails, which own a powerful position on apps building, the framework -Express does not have “best way” to accomplish something. It is found to be extremely flexible and pluggable. However, it comes with certain drawbacks. This is because you need to install tens of extra libraries as well as packages in order to avail al the essential features for purpose of web development, which are already covered in RoR or Django. Also, you need to be conscious about the compatibility concerns, because there are many extra packages for Node as well as Express. A single update of a module could make you impelled to update the next one, and the update could need next one and so on.

Angularjs:

Angularjs is identified to be a javascript based open-source framework which is specifically designed for single-page type of web apps as well as for mobile application development, through use of MVC architectural pattern. Basically, it is not a full-stack framework; however, it is simply a frontend framework which deals with the webpages. It is known that Angular is a fruition of AngularJS. It is to be noted that it is not a latest version but entirely a latest framework.  Moreover, Angular application is centred on components (saved inside the modules) – a blend of TypeScript and HTML code which work to state the things your web page would show.

Its working process is quite simple. In this, the component is a type of object wherein you would define what (includes which HTML objects/ tags, and their values), how (means the logic) and where (includes custom tag within your index.html wherein the content of component must be positioned.) By use if this framework, you could link more number of components as per your preference to a web page substituting various custom tags. Working in this manner offers online view updating because of event, logic saved inside the component or in cases the data gets modified. This framework has a drawback that is not backward compatible to Angular 1.x.

Concluding Note:

It is very essential to select a proper web application development framework that assists you to create a feature-rich app. Every of the web application development framework discussed above is comprehensive in all the necessary aspects. Depending on your convenience in a particular programming language, you could go for the web application development framework as per the preference.

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Also check: Top PHP Frameworks | Top Backend Frameworks