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JetBrains JavaScript Days 2023 recently concluded, offering
developers a wealth of practical insights into the dynamic realms of Angular, AI integration, TypeScript, ECMAScript
development, React best practices, JavaScript tooling improvements, and innovative view transitions. The series of
talks featured in-depth discussions, providing valuable knowledge for developers navigating the ever-evolving
landscape of web development.

In her talk on the State of Angular v17, Simona Cotin an engineering
manager at Google, emphasized adaptability to developers’ needs. The upcoming release focuses on flexible controls,
addressing performance improvements, lazy loading with the “defer” primitive, and enhancements in server-side
rendering and static site generation. The talk highlighted a redesigned control flow syntax and additional features
like View Transitions API and Angular Signals.

Daniel Roe who leads the NUXT core team explored
malleable applications, emphasizing user-centric design and the dynamic modification of app behavior based on
individual preferences. During the live coding session, Roe practically demonstrated the implementation of this
concept, integrating an AI component with OpenAI to dynamically change the app’s behavior. The talk covers technical
details such as setting up a NUXT project, incorporating GraphQL queries, and creating a malleable component. Roe
encourages the audience to delve into the concept of malleable applications and plans to share the code on a Git
repository for those interested in experimentation.

Stefan Baumgartner, author of TypeScript Cookbook addressed
challenges in TypeScript usage, focusing on data fetching, error handling, function overloads, mutations, and
TypeScript solutions. The talk emphasized a pragmatic approach, acknowledging TypeScript’s benefits while
considering trade-offs and making informed decisions.

In his talk, web enthusiast Romulo Cintra provided an insightful overview of
the ECMAScript development process, spanning from initial ideas to language implementation. Emphasizing the
significance of standards bodies like W3C and TC39, he detailed the roles within TC39 and its consensus-driven
decision-making approach. Cintra discussed various proposal stages, illustrating examples like type annotations and
pattern matching. He highlighted challenges in proposing larger features and stressed the importance of community
involvement. The talk showcased specific proposals at different stages, including Temporal API and Duration Format
API, while encouraging participation in open source contributions and discussions within the ECMAScript community.

Cory House, drawing on a decade of React consulting experience, discussed
common mistakes in React development at JetBrains JavaScript Days 2023. He covered issues like reliance on outdated
tools such as Create React App, the underestimation of TypeScript benefits, suboptimal state management, and
disorganized component structures. House suggested exploring alternatives to Create React App for improved features
and support, emphasizing the need for adapting to newer tools. The talk underscores TypeScript’s value in enhancing
type safety and development efficiency, urging developers to consider its adoption.

Luca Casonato at Deno company critically examined
JavaScript’s limitations, comparing the ecosystem to Rust and Go. He introduced Dino, a JavaScript runtime
addressing these limitations, showcasing its simplicity and productivity benefits. The talk advocated for a
practical “batteries included” approach in programming languages.

James Snell, a principal engineer at Cloudflare and a co-chair at Web Interoperable Runtimes Community Group (WinterCG),
discussed non-browser JavaScript runtimes. He emphasized the positive impact of competition from runtimes like Deno
and Bun, stating that it provides developers with more features, improved performance,
a better developer experience, and diverse deployment options. Snell advocated for standardized APIs to ensure
portability while cautioning against potential lock-in issues. The talk also introduced WinterCG as an essential
initiative for collaborative efforts and shared standards, aiming to provide a space for JS runtimes to collaborate
on API interoperability.

Astro co-creator Fred K. Schott
discussed view transitions, a browser technology utilized in the Astro framework. The talk emphasized
server-rendered HTML, minimal JavaScript, and CSS for transitions. Astro’s journey, accessibility considerations,
and unique features like persistent elements were showcased. The presentation provided insights into the
implementation, browser support, and accessibility of view transitions.

The recordings from JetBrains JavaScript Day 2023 are available on YouTube.