If this ships, it will change javascript forever
Theo - t3․gg・2 minutes read
Signals in JavaScript, led by Eisenberg, enable one-way data flow and efficient updates through an acyclic graph, with potential for UI applications. A proposal for a signals standard, involving key figures like Dan Abramov and Michael West, aims to reduce fragmentation in web development and enhance performance and interoperability.
Insights
- Signals in JavaScript, championed by Eisenberg and supported by influential figures like Dan Abramov, facilitate one-way data flow and efficient UI updates through an acyclic graph structure, enhancing performance and enabling smart propagation of changes.
- A collaborative effort in 2023, involving key library authors and framework maintainers, aims to establish a standard for signals in JavaScript, promoting interoperability across different technologies and streamlining web development by reducing fragmentation and offering a common foundation for signal implementation.
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Recent questions
What are signals in JavaScript?
Signals in JavaScript enable one-way data flow, modeling state cells and computations, akin to React's one-way data tree for UI. They form an acyclic graph where nodes derive state from other nodes, with clean or dirty tracking for efficient updates.
How do signals optimize performance?
Signals in JavaScript follow a push then pull model, ensuring changes are propagated only when explicitly pulled. This optimization helps in smart propagation of changes, ensuring dependent computations update accordingly.
What are the advantages of using signals?
Signals offer advantages such as automatic memorization, avoiding unnecessary recomputations, and the ability to react to dirty signals. They are crucial for efficiently updating user interfaces and triggering actions based on changes in signal states.
How can signals be used in user interfaces?
An example of using an effect function to update a DOM text node based on the parity of a signal showcases practical application of signals in user interfaces. They play a significant role in efficiently updating UI components based on signal states.
What is the significance of the signals proposal?
The signals proposal aims to reduce fragmentation in the web ecosystem by providing a standard for signals that can be used across different libraries and frameworks. It encourages collaboration and contributions to refine the proposal, with the belief that a signal standard holds significant potential for JavaScript and the web.
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Summary
00:00
JavaScript Signals: Efficient Data Tracking and UI Updates
- Signals are a valuable primitive for tracking data in applications, adopted by Angular and Tailwind, but the focus is on JavaScript.
- The TC39 proposal for signals in JavaScript, led by Eisenberg, is in stage zero with a notable contributor list including key figures like Dan Abramov and Michael West.
- Signals in JavaScript enable one-way data flow, modeling state cells and computations, akin to React's one-way data tree for UI.
- Signals form an acyclic graph where nodes derive state from other nodes, with clean or dirty tracking for efficient updates.
- A simple example demonstrates creating signals for a counter and a computed value based on the counter's state.
- Signals allow for smart propagation of changes, ensuring dependent computations update accordingly.
- The push then pull model of signals ensures changes are propagated only when explicitly pulled, optimizing performance.
- Advantages of signals include automatic memorization, avoiding unnecessary recomputations, and the ability to react to dirty signals.
- Signals are crucial for efficiently updating user interfaces, with the potential to trigger actions based on changes in signal states.
- An example of using an effect function to update a DOM text node based on the parity of a signal showcases practical application of signals in user interfaces.
11:48
"Standardizing Signals for Web Development Efficiency"
- The text discusses the concept of signals and their significance in triggering dependencies in a system.
- It mentions a collaboration in 2023 involving various signal library authors and frontend framework maintainers to explore signals as a standard.
- The collaboration involved surveys, interviews, and discussions to establish common themes and ideas regarding signals.
- Several popular libraries and frameworks like Hular, Bubble, Ember, and others have contributed to the design input for the signals standard.
- The proposal on GitHub includes background, motivations, design goals, FAQs, and APIs for creating state and computed signals.
- The proposal aims to reduce fragmentation in the web ecosystem by providing a standard for signals that can be used across different libraries and frameworks.
- Application developers can use signals through their chosen component frameworks, leading to more interoperability and faster performance.
- Library developers can integrate the signals proposal by updating their libraries to use signal.state and signal.computed internally.
- The proposal does not include an effect API but provides primitives in the signal.subtle namespace for frameworks to build their own effects.
- The signal.subtle.untrack API allows library authors to handle challenges like unnecessary connections in the graph caused by framework access to arrays.
23:47
"Signal Standard Proposal for JavaScript Evolution"
- The proposal involves utilizing an untracked block of code to access arrays within the signal.subtle namespace, with additional APIs available for exploration. The framework rendering should not trigger actions in the graph, emphasizing the need for a clear signal to follow the data trail.
- The proposal is set to be presented before tc39 for consideration at stage one, indicating formal group evaluation. Feedback from this stage will guide further evolution of the proposal through prototyping, aiming to avoid standardizing unusable features like web components. Collaboration and contributions are encouraged to refine the proposal, with the belief that a signal standard holds significant potential for JavaScript and the web, fostering a better future for all involved.
