When we initially set out to build Stashpad Docs, one of the first decisions we had to make was whether to use React or to pivot to a different front-

A React Developer's Guide to Learning SolidJS

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2024-05-02 19:30:02

When we initially set out to build Stashpad Docs, one of the first decisions we had to make was whether to use React or to pivot to a different front-end framework. React was the default choice because the engineers at Stashpad are experienced React developers and already had used it to build Stashpad Lists.

SolidJS (colloquially referred to as Solid) had been on our radar for quite some time, and this project felt like a good opportunity to give it a shot. React had worked fairly well for us in Stashpad Lists, but we'd hit enough performance bottlenecks and quirky bugs that it felt worth our while to explore other options. We wanted to build something simple and blazingly fast, and the absence of a virtual DOM plus fine-grained reactivity aligned Solid with our goals quite well.

Since Solid's design was heavily influenced by React, the learning curve didn't look too daunting. We'd likely be able to pivot back to React quite easily if Solid ended up not working out (spoiler: it worked out).