Web development is often seen as a chaotic field by many in the software engineering community. This sentiment was aptly captured by a user who famously went on a ranting rampage in his post ‘Web development is f*** stupid’.
“I have never seen such poorly written languages as JavaScript and TypeScript in my life,” he wrote in his Reddit post.
He further added that the dependency management with npm and Yarn (JavaScript package managers) is a nightmare and “frameworks like React, Redux, and Next.js are constantly changing for no reason, making the entire process unnecessarily complicated”.
Despite the strong language, his viewpoint resonates with many developers who find web development frustrating. One user commented, “I hate how most of the software engineering is web development.” Another added, “I started off learning video games and desktop apps, but by the time I finished college, I realised most of software engineering is web apps, which I despise.”
Why the Hate?
Many developers feel that web development is plagued by poor management and constant changes. “There’s always some new framework everyone thinks will be the holy grail, but it’s always just as bad as everything else,” one user lamented.
Another agreed, saying that no other area of software engineering releases as many updates and new frameworks as web apps, making it hard to keep up with.
However, not everyone shares this negative view. Some see the challenges of web development as opportunities for interesting projects. “There are so many interesting projects in web development. People think it’s just building simple websites, but web apps can have so many interesting challenges and depth,” a user noted.
Another pointed out, “Web applications today are just the desktop applications of yesterday, thanks to advancements in computing power.”
In web development, frameworks often become obsolete within a few years, replaced by newer technologies. Developers must learn these new frameworks, update existing code, and hope for smooth transitions. And now, there are people who say that TypeScript is going to replace JavaScript, which brings back the same conversation about the changing landscape of web development.
Too Much to Deal With
Web developers in software development agencies face even greater challenges. While some agencies stick to a specific technology stack, most take on any web-related projects they can find.
Others believe that the constant updates and new frameworks are a necessary part of the evolution of technology. “Web development has nothing to do with websites. It has everything to do with web applications. The reason web dev jobs are so common is because 99.9% of software is delivered through a browser or mobile app now,” a user explained.
Despite the criticism, some developers find web development to be intuitive and refreshing. “And no one needs to switch to every latest web framework either. If you have to, it’s not that bad if your foundation is solid.”
Web development may be seen by some as a “necessary evil”, but it remains an integral part of the software engineering landscape.
“Computers are literally designed based on the principle of abstraction. Even if you’re coding in binary, you’re still abstracting away a ton of stuff,” said a user in the discussion. Web development, with all its layers and complexities, is just another step in the ongoing evolution of technology.
The hate for web development is not new. A simple search on Google, X, Quora, Reddit, or any community platform throws thousands complaining about the constantly changing paradigm of web development for more than a decade.
Regardless, according to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2024, JavaScript has remained the most popular programming language in the past decade. This can be attributed to the fact that JS has been used almost everywhere, not because it is loved by everyone.
