The past two weeks of the bootcamp have primarily revolved around learning how to utilize and navigate Vue.js, a progressive javascript framework. As we’ve learned, Vue is a powerful tool for creating user interfaces and building reactivity into a webpage. Up until this point, pure javascript allowed us to create some amount of interactivity in our projects, but anything beyond the most simple applications required complex, verbose code. While intimidating at first, the past two weeks have started to show the real power of Vue in its ability to easily integrate into almost any project, with enough flexibility to increase efficiency and functionality regardless of the scope in which it is being used.
Boiled down, Vue offers a system that allows data to be declaratively rendered to the DOM of a webpage, through the use of variables, conditionals, and functions that can all be affected by user interaction and input. This is a powerful and adaptable system; when I first successfully integrated Vue into an older project, it was a true eureka moment. With even the most basic application of Vue, it felt like the scope of things that I could build had been widened dramatically.
Since that initial “aha!” moment, further and experience with the framework has revealed more complex functionalities that provide even greater utility. Most recently, I’ve been working with components, which are versatile and adaptable. Rather than having to code one long and complex Vue app for each part of a project, I am now able to use components to break off pieces of that code that are commonly utilized and integrate them where needed. This allows me to speed up my workflow, and focus most of my time coding unique behaviors, rather than recoding and refactoring lines that I’ve already written.
It’s exciting to be at a point where I can understand the value of even these most basic pieces of Vue, while knowing that there is much more to learn. Be on the lookout for more technical topics in upcoming blog posts!