What I wish I had known about single page applications
As a Java developer, I have spent most of my professional life working on the parts of software systems that most people don’t see. The so-called back-end of the software stack. But lately I have found myself wanting to branch out, and dabbling more in HTML and UI development.
A couple of years ago, this natural curiosity led me to start a new side project. My project was meant to be a hobby application that would only be used by me and a few friends, so I didn’t spend too much time thinking about a long term roadmap or requirements. The main goal was to get it working fast.
I settled on JHipster, a development platform for building web applications using modern technology: Angular, React or Vue for the client side, and Spring plus Gradle or Maven for the server side. It’s been around for years, is very well documented, and has great community support.
Within a few weeks I had a functioning application that met all my needs. But a funny thing happened soon after I launched. Other people started using the application. Knowing I had created something useful for a large audience was really satisfying. And so I did what any other developer who is already stretched thin and trying to balance a full time job and a family and hobby projects would do: I spent my nights, weekends, and every free moment I had working on it.
