Architecture · 2015–2022 · Cloud Scale
Redux global state
One store to rule the SPA — boilerplate ceremonies for every keystroke until hooks and server state libraries cooled the religion.
Redux mutated frontend architecture by making state transitions explicit and debuggable. It failed as a default for every form field when React Query, Zustand, and server components ate the use cases. The fad was wiring; the stuck residue is predictable state for complex clients.
Context
Split everything, then pay for the glue
Hyperscale patterns escaped the companies that needed them. Containers unified packaging; Kubernetes became the cloud OS; microservices and NoSQL were sold as defaults. Mobile-first stuck because screens changed. Cargo-cult distributed systems stuck around as invoices. The durable move was packaging and ops maturity — not rewriting every app into a mesh.
Compare with
Related
Framework · 2013–now
React
Components and unidirectional data. Won the front-end by being good enough and having a gravitational ecosystem.
Practice · 2014–2023
SPA for Every Page
Client-side apps as the only architecture. Great for apps; absurd for brochures.
$ Marketing sites and docs portals shipped multi-megabyte JS bundles for content that wanted HTML. SEO and performance teams spent years unwinding "modern" defaults.
Framework · 2010–2021
AngularJS (1.x)
Two-way binding magic that became a migration tax. Angular 2+ was a rewrite; the 1.x apps lingered for years.
Language · 2012–now
TypeScript
JS with a typechecker that conquered the ecosystem. The rare fad that became the floor.