This post follows the current trend hyping up signals, but glosses over the complexity they bring.
We can agree that state management is complex, no matter how it’s done. If you disagree, cool go build a database.
Of all the complexities around state management, the one squarely placed at the top for me is: time.
State is a variable you care about, that will change over time.
Signals and Hooks/Effects present two very different approaches to the problem.
They both require updating your mental model, and they both have specialised tooling.
Myself, I’ve never fully grokked observables/signals—particularly in relation to a UI. They shift complexity into a location that I think makes them harder to reason about.
I did take to the React approach with Components and hooks. And in my experience so did many others.
I disagree with the article saying all frameworks must have signals, and I appreciate the React core team holding their ground on that.
It’s healthy for the ecosystem to have frameworks built on different ideas, otherwise why build a new framework?
But React, if you added signals I think you would warp it’s entire foundational paradigm.
We can agree that state management is complex, no matter how it’s done. If you disagree, cool go build a database.
Of all the complexities around state management, the one squarely placed at the top for me is: time.
State is a variable you care about, that will change over time.
Signals and Hooks/Effects present two very different approaches to the problem.
They both require updating your mental model, and they both have specialised tooling.
Myself, I’ve never fully grokked observables/signals—particularly in relation to a UI. They shift complexity into a location that I think makes them harder to reason about.
I did take to the React approach with Components and hooks. And in my experience so did many others.
I disagree with the article saying all frameworks must have signals, and I appreciate the React core team holding their ground on that.
It’s healthy for the ecosystem to have frameworks built on different ideas, otherwise why build a new framework?
But React, if you added signals I think you would warp it’s entire foundational paradigm.