Navigating the Framework Maze: A Student’s Take on React, Vue, and Angular

For one of my CS courses this semester, we have to build a dynamic web application to showcase our final project. That means I’ve been thrown headfirst into one of the most daunting decisions a student developer has to make: choosing a JavaScript framework. The internet is full of strong opinions, and it feels like picking a side in a war. After weeks of tutorials and reading, here’s my attempt to make sense of the big three: React, Vue, and Angular.

React: The Default Giant

React isn’t just a framework; it’s an entire ecosystem. When you start, everyone tells you to just learn React. It has the biggest community, the most jobs, and a library for literally anything you can imagine on npm.

For me, React’s biggest pro is its flexibility. It doesn’t force a rigid structure on you. But as a student, that’s also its biggest con. It’s easy to get lost in the “React way” of doing things, and you have to make a lot of decisions about state management, routing, and styling yourself. The recent introduction of Server Components is a mind-bending concept that feels incredibly powerful, blurring the lines between client and server, but it also adds another layer of complexity to an already steep learning curve. It feels like being given the keys to a massive workshop with every tool imaginable, which is great if you know what you’re doing, but overwhelming if you don’t.

Vue.js: The Friendly Challenger

After wrestling with React’s setup, trying Vue felt like a breath of fresh air. Its documentation is famously good, and it just clicks faster. The “progressive” nature means you can start small and add features as you need them, which is perfect for a student project that starts simple and grows over time.

The Composition API in Vue 3 feels very modern and intuitive, especially if you’ve been exposed to functional programming concepts. Everything seems designed to give you a great developer experience out of the box, especially with a build tool like Vite that makes your development server feel instantaneous. For a student on a tight deadline, the speed at which you can go from zero to a working prototype in Vue is a massive advantage. It feels less like a giant workshop and more like a perfectly organized toolbox with exactly what you need.

Angular: The All-Inclusive Battleship

Then there’s Angular. You often hear it described as the “enterprise” framework, and that reputation is well-earned. It’s a full-fledged platform with strong opinions on how your application should be structured. It comes with everything included: dependency injection, a powerful CLI, built-in routing, and form handling.

For a group project, I can see the appeal. The rigid structure ensures everyone is on the same page. The reliance on TypeScript from the ground up enforces a level of discipline that can prevent a lot of bugs. However, for a solo developer or a small project, it can feel like overkill. The learning curve is steep, and the amount of boilerplate code can be intimidating. The recent addition of Signals seems like a great move to modernize its state management, but it’s still playing in a different league of complexity compared to Vue.

My Verdict for My Project

So, what am I choosing?

• If my main goal was to get a job at a big tech company right after graduation, I’d probably force myself to master React. Its ecosystem is just too dominant to ignore.
• If I were working on a large, complex group project for a software engineering course, Angular‘s structure would be a lifesaver.
• But for my current project—a solo endeavor where I need to build something impressive, quickly, without getting bogged down in configuration—I’m leaning heavily towards Vue. Its gentle learning curve and fantastic developer experience feel like the best fit for a student who needs to be productive right away.

Ultimately, the “best” framework is the one that helps you build your project and learn the most along the way. For me, right now, that seems to be Vue.