npm JavaScript predictions for 2019: React, GraphQL, and TypeScript are three technologies to learn

Based on Laurie Voss’ talk on Node+JS Interactive 2018, on Friday, npm has shared some insights and predictions about JavaScript for 2019. These predictions are aimed to help developers make better technical choices in 2019.

Here are the four predictions npm has made:

“You will abandon one of your current tools.”

In JavaScript, frameworks and tools don’t last and generally enjoy a phase of peak popularity of 3-5 years. This follows a slow decline as developers have to maintain the legacy applications but move to newer frameworks for new work. Mr. Voss said in his talk, “Nothing lasts forever!..Any framework that we see today will have its hay days and then it will have an after-life where it will slowly slowly degrade.”

For developers, this essentially means that it is better to keep on learning new frameworks instead of holding on to their current tools too tightly.

“Despite a slowdown in growth, React will be the dominant framework in 2019.”

Though React’s growth has slowed down in 2018, as compared to 2017, it still continues to dominate the web scene. 60% of npm survey respondents said they are using React. In 2019, npm says that more people will use React for building web applications. As people using it will grow we will have more tutorials, advice, and bug fixes.

“You’ll need to learn GraphQL.”

The GraphQL client library is showing tremendous popularity and as per npm it is going to be a “technical force to reckon with in 2019.” It was first publicly released in 2015 and it is still too early to put it into production, but going by its growing popularity, developers are recommended to learn its concepts in 2019. npm also predict that developers will see themselves using GraphQL in new projects later in the year and in 2020.

“Somebody on your team will bring in TypeScript.”

npm’s survey uncovered that 46% of the respondents were using Microsoft’s TypeScript, a typed superset of JavaScript that compiles to plain JavaScript. One of the reason for this major adoption by enthusiasts could be the extra safety TypeScript provides by type-checking. Adopting TypeScript in 2019 could prove really useful, especially if you’re a member of a larger team.

Read the detailed report and predictions on npm’s website.