HACKER Q&A
📣 grok22

Why is “blazing fast” a common phrase in the web development world?


It seems like everyday we hear of a new framework that is "blazing fast" in something, but yet is written in Javascript or PHP or other dynamic language. It almost is like a meme or an insider joke that I don't get. Maybe it's "blazing fast" as compared to slow-as-molasses Javascript code, but it still is not as fast as it could be because it is written in Javascript.

e.g:

   Lumen: "...solution for building Laravel based micro-services and blazing fast APIs"
   Stencil: "Generate small, blazing fast, and 100% standards based Web Components..."
   Gatsby: "...a free and open source framework based on React that helps developers build blazing fast websites and apps"
   Vue: "...Blazing Fast Virtual DOM"
   Lisan: "A blazing fast and super small i18n library..."

  👤 austincheney Accepted Answer ✓
It’s marketing for people who don’t know better.

If you want a faster application your best bet is to avoid doing slow things as opposed to the magic of any application framework.

On the backend limit service calls, database queries, and asset size as much as possible. Essentially do less and send less to the browser.

On the front end avoid everything that requires parsing a string: querySelectors. That alone can make your application up to 10000x faster.

The slowest parts of any web application are the network connection and large frameworks (both frontend and backend).

👤 runawaybottle
Because it suggests the application was built with performance in mind (optimal rendering, rendering techniques, optimal data retrieval/caching, just generally not a cookie cutter implementation).

I would look for those terms as signals for things that must have performance like data tables, animation frameworks, real time apis (anything real time), and things that dictate your data rendering (state management libraries like redux). These things cannot be slow, so please indicate that you did not make it slow by saying “blazing-fast”!

👤 tomkarho
Because web development is like a blazing fire: starts brightly (a new framework/library to play with), burns fast (the framework is older than a week, time for a change) and leaves behind a pile of ashes (legacy software built with the old framework) /s
👤 alashley
I think its just marketing hype. Although some approaches do lend themselves to better performance of course.

I once read a quote related to React. Paraphrasing: Speed is an implementation detail, if it wasn't fast we wouldn't do it/use it.

👤 nhgiang
Because webdev is lit /s
👤 sorokod
Because there are no benchmarks for any of this
👤 sloaken
Because the term 'Cool' went out in a blaze of glory.