Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007
210 Ajax Frameworks and Counting
A year ago, I posted this article showing a count of 134 Ajax frameworks, according to the frameworks area on AjaxPatterns.org.
Today, a recount shows there are 210 Ajax frameworks and libraries listed on the site - the real figure is probably much higher, and by the same token, some of those listed may well be past expiry date. And there’s probably a miscount or two in there, or a duplicated framework - so take it all with a grain of salt! In any event, this means around 1.5 new frameworks per week, a little less than the previous period (around 1 every 3 days from December, 2005 to May, 2006). This time round, there’s a more detailed breakdown available as a Google Spreadsheet, counting by language and framework category. There are 79 pure-Javascript frameworks and 131 server-side frameworks, up from 58 and 76 last year.
Pure Javascript
| Multipurpose | 37 |
| Remoting | 19 |
| Graphics and Effects | 6 |
| Flash | 3 |
| Logging | 5 |
| XML | 6 |
| Specialised | 3 |
| Subtotal | 79 |
Server-Side
| 4D | 1 |
| C++ | 1 |
| Coldfusion | 4 |
| Eiffel | 0 |
| DotNet (+ASP/C*) | 19 |
| Java | 44 |
| Lisp | 1 |
| Lotus Notes | 2 |
| Multi-Language | 11 |
| Perl | 2 |
| PHP | 38 |
| Python | 5 |
| Ruby | 1 |
| Smalltalk | 1 |
| Tcl | 1 |
| Subtotal | 131 |
TOTAL 210
The Ruby count caught my eye: one, but it’s a biggie :).
What does this mean? That a Java developer has 44 frameworks and libraries to choose from? No, the more accurate answer would be around 130-odd. That’s 44 Java, around 8 multi-language (most of the multi-language frameworks offer Java plus one or more other languages) and 79 Javascript frameworks. If you’re still rolling your own XMLHttpRequests or visual effects, now might be a good time to start investigating the alternatives.
Or release yours publicly to ensure Java has the most choices going forward.
I would like to see a feature / class / function breakdown of all the active libraries out there….some sort of popularity ranking too.
Would be nice to see some consolidation of them so they can continue to compete as a viable alternative to RIA platforms.
Just a thought.
Hi Michael,
Nice work! Can you put the full list online.
Thanks,
Aart
Most of these frameworks will go the way of the dodo. It’s not the number of frameworks that matters, it’s how good the frameworks are, and how well they will be supported.
Aart, thanks. The full list is indeed online :) at http://ajaxpatterns.org/Frameworks
Lasso should be listed here as part of the server-side languages.
http://lassosoft.com
Wow… that’s a shame that so many people suffer from NIHS or don’t even know how to use XMLHttpRequest.