Solid article Austin! I think you bring up some good points for novice web devs looking to learn JavaScript. Unfortunately, I’m not surprised by all the push back you’re getting from framework fanatics. People get very defensive when you suggest that maybe, just maybe, blind adherence to their tool of choice isn’t always the best route.
As you outlined in your article, this advice is meant for beginners. I can’t see how anyone can argue against the benefits of learning foundational, “vanilla” JavaScript before — or at the very least, in conjunction with-a JS framework. IMO, learning basic JavaScript in the early stages provides foundational knowledge that can be applied to any framework.
And to those who say you can’t write a scalable, modern-day web app without a JS framework — bullshit. Two I can think of off the top of my head that utilize vanilla JS to deliver at least part of their front-end functionality are GitHub and Carrd.
If you eschewed learning the basics of JavaScript and jumped right into a framework and that’s working for you, that’s great! But bashing an article suggesting that beginners should learn the basics of a language before choosing a framework that abstracts stuff away is ridiculous. In any other context, that’s just sounds advice.