This is the version 1.0 release of Raj.
This means Raj is 100% recommended for projects that need a JavaScript framework. The hard problems have been solved. There are strong stories for how to handle side-effects, lazy-loading, code-splitting, routing, composition, and subscriptions. Enough real-world applications have been built; in-house, personal, and open-source. There is package documentation, an in-depth tutorial, and a time-travelling debugger.
Raj and its ecosystem have been under active development for over a year now.
Raj is an implementation of the Elm architecture that feels natural to JavaScript developers.
We retain the strengths of the architecture and leverage JavaScript's dynamic nature to enable powerful composition that Elm itself cannot match.
In areas such as code-splitting and lazy-loading, Raj excels with the JavaScript ecosystem whereas Elm is just scratching the surface.
Raj enters the JavaScript framework war with stand out characteristics:
- Small size; perhaps the smallest legitimate framework. Raj is very easy to add into an existing project.
- View layer independence. React, Preact, and the vast ecosystem of
html = view(data)libraries work with Raj. - A compelling story for dealing with side-effects built into the framework.
- An a-la-carte approach with recommended libraries for common things as opposed to batteries included.
- A pattern of packaging side-effects, business logic, and views together as programs without coupling those concerns.
Quite a few great applications have been built with Raj.
Hopefully, there are a lot more to come.
From Chris:
Cutting this release after a year in development was not a rushed decision.
Raj has been able to meet challenges in building a wide variety of applications.
Raj has been able to amass an ecosystem of libraries that do not hack around it.
This release has been cut because Raj is the right tool to build applications.I believe it is the best JavaScript framework out there today.
Making this 1.0 release means when a framework is needed, I can recommend Raj without hesitation.