In the past few years, JavaScript has been the top of mind when creating Sing Page Applications. But recently, Microsoft introduces a new framework to compete with it, named Blazor. Blazor allows us to develop browser-based applications using C#. In this article, we will be talking about Blazor, reasons behind its hype among Melbourne web developer community, and compare it with JavaScript.
Let’s start with what is Blazor, since some of you might not know or even heard about it before. Few years ago, Microsoft introduced their new web development framework, Blazor (Browser+Razor) which allows developers to use C# dan Razor syntax to build browser-based applications alongside HTML and CSS.
The main feature of Blazor is it allows developers to develop both client and server sides using C#. And because it uses WebAssembly, you don’t have to install any third-party plugins to execute. By having the same libraries and code, Blazor makes your work much more and convenient and comfortable.
Over time, Blazor become more and more popular and inevitably, people started to compare it with popular JavaScript frameworks. There are many discussions about the future of client-side web development, and those discussions and comparisons have made it even popular. So, let’s see what makes Blazor so unique.
The primary plus point of Blazor, as I mentioned earlier is that it allows developers to use C# to develop and execute browser-based applications. For the past few years, to become full-stack web developer a .NET developer must learn JavaScript. Because JavaScript has been the primary programing language used to create the frontend. With Blazor, you can develop both server and client sides using C#.
Another factor that differentiate Blazor from JavaScript is Blazor pre-compiled with intermediary language. This feature gives us some remarkable benefits when it comes to performance demanding applications that run on the browser. Plus, Blazor applications can work offline for times where more processing power is needed.
Here comes the most anticipated part. Will Blazor replace JavaScript? In our opinion, it is still too early to answer that question. But we can compare a few leading JavaScript frameworks with Blazor to see their differences.
Blazor vs. React
There are lots of developers that would argue that React as the best library for web component development. Although it’s not an apple to apple comparison, we have to agree that React is well-established and earned its respect with a proven track record and by having a strong community around it.
In other hand, Blazor is new but, it brings the flavor from its well-established counterpart Razor. So, it’s not entirely novel for developers. Moreover, .Net developers could have smoother transitions since Blazor uses C# for development.
Blazor vs. Angular
Another top JavaScript framework for SPA is Angular. When compared to Blazor, Angular has the upper hand thanks to its stability, popularity and production-readiness. Besides, Angular fully supports PWA while Blazor’s server-side is yet to become compatible.