Are Frameworks Still Worth the Tradeoffs? w/ Adam Rackis

This week, Chuck talks with Adam Rackis live from React Miami. Along with special guest-host Aaron Francis, they dig into React Server Components, the quirks of modern JavaScript frameworks, and why TanStack might be the future. Sipping an Appleton Estate Rum, they swap hot takes, get candid about developer trends, tech philosophies, and share some unexpected guilty pleasures.

In this episode:

• (00:00) - Intro
• (02:37) - Rum tasting and review: Appleton Estate
• (11:27) - Hot Take: Why Adam is cooling off on React Server Components
• (14:56) - What makes TanStack the most exciting tool in frontend?
• (16:52) - Are we still chasing SSR for the right reasons?
• (21:26) - Comparing frameworks: Laravel, Next.js, Redwood & more
• (24:34) - Should you pay for Auth or build it yourself?
• (25:13) - Why does the JS community resist “batteries-included” frameworks?
• (27:54) - A look at Adam’s React Miami talk: From PHP to RSC
• (30:45) - Hot Take: classes vs hooks
• (33:31) - Adam’s military background
• (35:08) - Milestones: Spotify, marriage, and careers
• (36:56) - Has Disney ruined Star Wars?
• (38:17) - Guilty pleasures: Jackass, Fast & Furious, and more
• (43:29) - If not tech, what would Adam do instead?
• (44:05) - Plugs

Links

• Appleton Estate Rum: https://appletonestate.com/
• React Miami: https://www.reactmiami.com/
• Spotify: https://spotify.com/
• Riot Games: https://www.riotgames.com/
• Ron Zacapa 23: https://www.zacaparum.com/
• Laravel: https://laravel.com/
• Postgres: https://www.postgresql.org/
• Ken Wheeler: https://x.com/ken_wheeler/
• Disney: https://www.disney.com/
• Vercel: https://vercel.com/
• Next.js: https://nextjs.org/
• Django: https://www.djangoproject.com/
• Rails: https://rubyonrails.org/
• TanStack: https://tanstack.com/
• Remix: https://remix.run/
• Svelte: https://svelte.dev/
• HTMX: https://htmx.org/
• Vue: https://vuejs.org/
• Dan Abramov: https://github.com/gaearon
• Inertia: https://inertiajs.com/
• Sam Selikoff: https://x.com/samselikoff
• Ryan Florence: https://x.com/ryanflorence
• Big Sky Dev Con: https://bigskydevcon.com/
• Drizzle: https://orm.drizzle.team/
• RedwoodJS: https://redwoodjs.com/
• Tom Preston-Werner: https://x.com/mojombo
• Clerk: https://clerk.com/
• Auth0: https://auth0.com/
• NextAuth.js: https://next-auth.js.org/
• Better-Auth: https://www.better-auth.com/
• OpenAuth: https://openauth.js.org/
• Prisma: https://www.prisma.io/
• WorkOS: https://workos.com/
• Ember: https://emberjs.com/
• Backbonejs: https://backbonejs.org/
• Air Force Academy: https://www.usafa.edu/
• Star Wars: https://www.starwars.com/
• The Mandalorian: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mandalorian
• Fast & Furious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_%26_Furious
• Jackass: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackass_(franchise)
• Laravel Cloud: https://cloud.laravel.com/
• TanStack Router: https://tanstack.com/router/latest
• Screencasting.com: https://screencasting.com/

Connect with Adam

• Website: https://adamrackis.dev/
• X / Twitter: https://x.com/AdamRackis

Connect with Chuck and Robbie

• Robbie Wagner: https://x.com/RobbieTheWagner
• Chuck Carpenter: https://x.com/CharlesWthe3rd

Subscribe and stay in touch

• Website: https://whiskey.fm
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whiskey-web-and-whatnot/id1552776603
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19jiuHAqzeKnkleQUpZxDf
• Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1552776603
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhiskeyWebAndWhatnot

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Veteran web developers RobbieTheWagner and Charles William Carpenter III host this informal, whiskey-fueled fireside chat with your favorite web devs. They discuss all things web development including JavaScript, TypeScript, EmberJS, React, Astro, SolidJS, CSS, HTML, Web3, and more. They take a unique approach and focus on getting to know the human side of developers and their hobbies outside of work, all while sampling a new whiskey that they rate on their unique tentacle scale.