These are opinions.

There is no "right way" or "right tool".
It's all about your use case and how you use the tools available to you.

Backbone ☠️

• It's been around: released Oct. 2010
• Built into WordPress (more on this later)
• Small library (7.6kb/43.5kb with deps)
• MVC - Models, Views, Collections
• NO two-way data binding
• Very flexible
• Includes: router, underscore.js, events, more
• Performance can be an issue

Angular 1.X 💎

• It's been around: released Oct. 2010
• A good bit larger: 39.5kb
• Two-way data binding
• Probably the 2nd most "MVC" - less on the models
• Superseded by Angular 2 (totally different)
• Can create custom DOM elements/components
• Logic is mixed in HTML with `ng-` stuff
• Lots of built-in services, functions, and filters
• Huge community
• Performance is so-so

Ember 🔥

• Released December 2011
• Built by same team as jQuery and RoR
• 136.2kb (jQuery + Handlebars)
• Highly reccomends use of CLI
• Two-way data binding
• MV* - model, view, (controllers and components)
• Ember Data
• Added support for Virtual DOM & Components
• Handlebars (Logicless) Templating
• VERY opinionated

React ⚡️

• March 2013: the new "cool" kid on the block
• 26kb - doesn't come with much
• Makes huge use of ES6/2015/16
• Just the View Layer *V*
• Start from scratch/not opionated
• Strong focus on Components/.jsx
• New methodologies: redux/flux
• Server-side renderable
• Commonly used with webpack
• Extremely fast/performant

Lets see some code!

• Backbone
• Backbone with WP-API
• Angular
• Ember
• React

Further Reading/Resources:

• WordPress REST API (JS lib)
• Angular vs Backbone vs React vs Ember
• Vue JS

Thanks!

Any Questions?