Frameworks and servers

Six frameworks get something closer to a machine than a run: React, Vue, Express, Flask, Spring Boot and Laravel.

Opening one starts an environment. That takes a moment the first time, because something is actually being started rather than a file being executed.

What you get

• A terminal. A real shell, so you install and run things yourself rather than through a form.
• A browser preview. Your app served back to you beside the editor, which is what makes a web framework worth running here at all.
• A filesystem that persists. What you install and write is still there when you come back.

This is the difference from a single run in one line: a run executes and disappears, an environment keeps going.

When it goes wrong

An environment can be reset. That gives you a clean machine and throws away what was on it, which is the right move when you have broken the install rather than the code.

What next

Databases work the same way, with a machine of their own and a terminal that speaks the query language rather than the shell.

Frameworks and databases is the reference version of this page.