Vue.js has undergone a remarkable evolution in the past few years. It has changed significantly and has grown from a small web framework, which was used as an alternative to classic frameworks, to a well-known and respected figure in the web circus. Since the first release 2014 numerous other versions have appeared. Although in December 2020 Wikipedia version 2.6. 11 from 13. December 2019 lists as the current version, version 3 has now appeared as the next comprehensive milestone. This applies at least to the core library and numerous official libraries and tools, because Vue.js 3 is subject to a multi-step release process. The new version with the name “One Piece” based on the Japanese manga was in development for over two years. More than 2600 commits and 620 pull requests later the version is available.

Vue.js has always been considered a progressive framework that allows staggered use: Vue can be used as a library in some places in the Project are used and on the other hand as a comprehensive web framework similar to Angular or React. The “incremental” attribute, which is often given alongside “progressive”, takes this step-by-step use into account. Knowledge of JavaScript and HTML is sufficient to use Vue.js. The API, which has been kept simple, is often considered easier to learn than Angular or React, but there are extensive discussions about this.

The question of the aspects of Vue.js from version 2 to version 3 has changed. During the development time, numerous functions were up for discussion, some of which made it into the final version. With many others, the community has tested different implementations and completely discarded some ideas. The new version of Vue.js came out with the promise to be even more progressive. At the same time, according to the release notes on GitHub, performance has improved significantly, while the size of the library and memory consumption have decreased. This corresponds to the promises that set the bar high for the version in advance. It’s been two years since the initial announcement of Vue.js’ plans in September 2018.

Step-by-step to the release First there are a few basic differences to explain: Within the framework of the framework there is the Vue.js Core, the official libraries and other libraries and tools in the associated ecosystem.

With reports on the release of Vue.js on 18. September 2020 Vue.js Core is meant. The development team now classifies this core as stable. Nevertheless, the so-called @ next – distribution tag remains for a while, which indicates that the code for the core is in its own vue-next called repository is available on GitHub, under the GitHub organization vuejs, which lists all other official projects.

The entire publishing process for Vue.js 3 is multi-step. Official libraries such as Vue Router and Vuex will follow after the core is released. The conversion of external libraries and tools from external developers takes place in a parallel process over which the Vue.js core team has no great influence.

The official components are available in sufficiently advanced versions to be stable and cooperate with Vue.js 3. This means that Vue.js 3 can not only be tried out, but in most cases can already be used productively. A preliminary check of the libraries and tools used in the project is still mandatory so that a showstopper does not only become apparent during the migration.

A little drama in advance The announcements, first RFC documents (Request for Comments) and examples of the planned changes for Vue.js 3 have occasionally sparked heated discussions in the community. Not all actors remained objective. In short: the tatters have flown.

This applies in particular to the specification for the Composition API, which was first published in June 2019 has been published. Many discussions arose out of a misunderstanding. Among other things, not everyone knew from the start that the new API was optional and should not replace the Option API. Examples of the debate can be found on Hacker News, Reddit, Dev.to and Vue School.

Ultimately, the reactions show that changes to frameworks are stressful and that a community is misunderstood or attacked feel when the behavior, handling, or future prospects of a framework seem to change significantly.