The Effects of Architectural Design Decisions on Framework Adoption: A Comparative Evaluation of Meta-Frameworks in Modern Web Development
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Perustieteiden korkeakoulu |
Master's thesis
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Authors
Date
2024-05-20
Department
Major/Subject
Human-Computer Interaction
Mcode
SCI3097
Degree programme
Master’s Programme in Computer, Communication and Information Sciences
Language
en
Pages
6+83
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Abstract
The rise of JavaScript meta-frameworks has transformed the development of web applications in recent years. Alongside established frameworks, such as Next.js, more recent entrants, such as Astro and Qwik City have introduced novel approaches centred on simplifying developer experience and improving the perceived performance of applications for users. The competitive nature of the meta-framework space and the long-term impact of framework choice on projects calls for an understanding of the factors that drive framework adoption. This research first delineates extensibility, ease of migration and updates as a set of adoption factors based on prior research and their relevance to modern metaframeworks. The factors form a basis of evaluating three meta-frameworks—Next.js, Astro, and Qwik City—selected based on their popularity, design, and phase on the innovation curve. A developer survey is conducted to complement the analysis, gathering insights from developers on the value they associate with architectural aspects and their personal experiences with the selected frameworks. The findings substantiate previous research that identified learnability and extensibility as primary adoption drivers. The main risks driving unadoption involve complexity associated with a high degree of configurability and the perceived framework lock-in due to an abundance of framework-specific concepts. Despite shared authoring experiences across evaluated meta-frameworks, the analysis indicates that newer frameworks are showing potential to considerably enhance user and developer experiences by focusing on a simplified authoring experience, addressing issues related to the transmission of application logic from the server to the client and providing more fine-grained approaches to managing client-side JavaScript.Description
Supervisor
Arto, HellasThesis advisor
Vepsäläinen, JuhoKeywords
JavaScript, frameworks, meta-frameworks, adoption