EmberJS docuseries

— 2 minute read

I watched this interesting documentary about EmberJS. I am tied to it because of my work at LinkedIn, but the more I learn about, the more I appreciate its foundational values. Specifically, I like that

  • EmberJS is built with a HTML + CSS first mindset
  • It comes with batteries included (routing, modeling, testing) so getting up and running takes less mental effort and time
  • It is a framework that helps teams (small and big) be productive by relying on conventions. Once you get to know how things work in Ember, you are able to navigate through any other Ember application with very little effort

As Tom Dale mentions in the video, in 2011 when Chrome, Firefox and Safari broke into the browser world, JavaScript went from being considered a toy language to something that people can use to solve real problems with. EmberJS definitely does not have the hype that React/Vue/Angular have. But it is amazing to see how a framework that started with a “built to last” and “a framework for the next 10 years” has thrived with the support and contributions of the wonderful community. Go watch Yehuda’s keynote at Ember conf 2021 to see more of this journey.

Another thing that struck me from this video was a quote from Tom Dale:

Javascript frameworks dont have to be disposable software, and Web applications built with JavaScript dont have to be disposable either. Ember is a symbol that, that notion is a false dichotomy.

As I learn more about Ember and get better at it, I also struggle with the bloat that the Web in the recent years, has suffered with, because developers just care about JavaScript. I believe using elements of HTML and CSS properly and using JavaScript on top of that is essential for keeping the Web the great place that it is. I like that EmberJS has this as a foundational principle.