The Stack Overflow Podcast Svelte was built on “slinging code for the sheer love of it”
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Aug 26, 2025 Rich Harris, the creator of Svelte and a software engineer at Vercel, shares the fascinating journey of Svelte's development. He dives into the rapid evolution of web frameworks and the unique compiler-based approach that makes Svelte stand out. Rich discusses the complexities of front-end development and the need for unified frameworks to enhance user experience. He also highlights the collaborative spirit of Svelte's community and shares insights on improving asynchronous operations in web applications, making Svelte increasingly appealing to developers.
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Humble Newsroom Origins
- Rich Harris started Svelte to make interactive journalism visualizations easier after learning JavaScript at newsrooms.
- His early project Raktiv taught him design and open-source lessons that led to Svelte.
Compiler-First Design Advantage
- Svelte began as an ahead-of-time compiler to ship less JavaScript and evolved into a language for better authoring ergonomics.
- The compiler lets Svelte avoid recreating static DOM, improving both size and developer experience.
Prioritize Developer Experience
- Prioritize developer experience, not only raw performance, when designing frameworks and languages.
- Make common tasks feel natural so developers choose your tool for productivity, not just benchmarks.