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Prototype VS GoJS

Compare Prototype VS GoJS and see what are their differences

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Prototype logo Prototype

Prototype JavaScript framework

GoJS logo GoJS

GoJS is a JavaScript library for building interactive diagrams on HTML web pages. Build apps with flowcharts, org charts, BPMN, UML, modeling, and other visual graph types.
  • Prototype Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-30
  • GoJS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-21

Prototype features and specs

  • Simplified AJAX Requests
    Prototype provides a simplified API for making AJAX requests, which can make it easier and quicker to add AJAX capabilities to your web application compared to using native XHR.
  • DOM Manipulation
    Prototype offers an easy way to manipulate the DOM, with several utility functions that make selecting and modifying elements straightforward and more readable.
  • Extensive Utility Functions
    Provides many built-in utility functions for tasks like string manipulation, array processing, and object iteration, reducing the need to write these common utilities from scratch.
  • Event Handling
    Simplifies event handling by normalizing events across different browsers and providing an easy-to-use API for attaching and detaching event handlers.
  • Compatibility
    Prototype is known for its good cross-browser compatibility, ensuring scripts work consistently across major browsers.

Possible disadvantages of Prototype

  • Size and Loading Time
    The library is relatively large, which can affect page load times, especially on slower internet connections.
  • Global Namespace Pollution
    Prototype extends many native JavaScript objects and adds methods globally, which can lead to conflicts with other libraries and unexpected behavior.
  • Popularity and Community
    Prototype has seen a decline in popularity compared to other modern frameworks and libraries like React, Angular, and Vue, leading to a smaller community and fewer available resources.
  • Modern Features
    Lacks some of the modern functionality and features that other more recent JavaScript frameworks and libraries offer, which could limit its use in current and future projects.
  • Learning Curve
    For developers accustomed to more modern frameworks or vanilla JavaScript, adapting to Prototype's conventions and methods might require a learning curve.

GoJS features and specs

  • Rich Feature Set
    GoJS offers a comprehensive set of features designed for creating interactive diagrams, charts, and complex visualizations. This includes node and link modeling, custom styling, data binding, automatic layouts, and more.
  • Extensive Documentation
    The library is well-documented, providing developers with thorough guides, a detailed API reference, and numerous examples to assist in the implementation and troubleshooting of applications.
  • High Performance
    GoJS is optimized for performance, enabling the creation of responsive web applications that can handle a large number of nodes and complex interactions efficiently.
  • Flexibility and Customization
    GoJS offers great flexibility, allowing developers to customize the appearance and behavior of diagrams entirely, which makes it suitable for a wide range of use cases.
  • Active Support and Community
    The GoJS team provides active support to users through their forum and is responsive to issues and feature requests. This is complemented by a growing community of users sharing insights and solutions.

Possible disadvantages of GoJS

  • Commercial Licensing
    GoJS is a commercial product, and while it offers a free trial, a license is required for sustained use. This might be a constraint for projects with limited budgets.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    Due to its extensive capabilities and myriad of options, there can be a steep learning curve for developers new to GoJS to understand and effectively use all its features.
  • Complexity for Simple Diagrams
    While GoJS is powerful for complex diagrams, it might be considered overkill for simpler visualizations, where a lightweight library might suffice.
  • Browser Compatibility
    Although modern browsers are generally supported, there might be some compatibility issues or performance differences to manage when targeting older or less common browsers.
  • File Size
    The library's comprehensive feature set comes with a relatively large file size, which could impact loading times, particularly in environments with limited bandwidth.

Analysis of Prototype

Overall verdict

  • While Prototype.js was influential in its time, it is largely considered outdated compared to more modern and powerful libraries and frameworks. Its use is generally reserved for maintaining legacy systems rather than new project development.

Why this product is good

  • Prototype.js was one of the earliest JavaScript libraries that simplified many tasks, such as DOM manipulation, event handling, and Ajax. It provided a way to write more concise and manageable code before the emergence of frameworks like jQuery and modern alternatives such as React or Vue.js. It's particularly known for its extensions and syntactic sugar that offered a more object-oriented approach to JavaScript.

Recommended for

    Prototype.js is recommended primarily for developers working on maintaining or upgrading older web applications that were originally built using this library. It's not advised for new projects, as there are more robust and widely-supported tools available today that offer better performance, features, and community support.

Analysis of GoJS

Overall verdict

  • GoJS is considered a good choice for developers needing a versatile and feature-rich library for developing complex diagramming applications. Its performance, flexibility, and extensive support make it a reliable tool for both small and large-scale projects.

Why this product is good

  • GoJS is widely regarded as a powerful JavaScript and TypeScript library for building interactive diagrams and graphs. It offers a comprehensive set of features, including customizable templates, support for a variety of diagram types, and intuitive drag-and-drop functionality. The library is optimized for performance with large datasets and provides a robust API for creating complex visual representations. It also boasts thorough documentation and a range of examples to help developers get started quickly.

Recommended for

  • Developers working on data visualization apps
  • Teams creating interactive diagrams or flowcharts
  • Projects requiring complex and scalable diagram solutions
  • Organizations needing customizable and high-performance diagram libraries

Prototype videos

PROTOTYPE: 10 Years Later

More videos:

  • Review - Prototype Review by Alex Mercer
  • Review - Prototype Video Review

GoJS videos

GoJS in 12 Minutes: JavaScript Diagramming Library Tutorial

More videos:

  • Tutorial - What's in a GoJS JavaScript Application? | GoJS Beginner Tutorial #1
  • Review - [GOJS] Design Patterns em Javascript

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Prototype and GoJS)
Action
100 100%
0% 0
Javascript UI Libraries
20 20%
80% 80
Adventure
100 100%
0% 0
Flowcharts
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Prototype and GoJS

Prototype Reviews

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GoJS Reviews

20+ JavaScript libraries to draw your own diagrams (2022 edition)
GoJS offers many advanced features for user interactivity such as drag-and-drop, copy-and-paste, transactional state and undo management, palettes, overviews, data-bound models, event handlers, and an extensible tool system for custom operations. They provide over 150 interactive samples to help you get started with diagrams such as BPMN, flowchart, state chart, visual...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, GoJS should be more popular than Prototype. It has been mentiond 13 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Prototype mentions (4)

  • [AskJS] Is prototype based programming used in modern Javascript?
    It's very weird to realise that this isn't long enough to remember a time when extending native prototypes was en vogue. Source: over 3 years ago
  • ES1995: Javascript that could have been
    The parent is referring to the Prototype framework (http://prototypejs.org/), not the JS language concept of a prototype. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Make Front End Shit Again
    Let's not forget about http://prototypejs.org/ & http://script.aculo.us/ for modern Web 2.O. - Source: Hacker News / over 4 years ago
  • I want to build an NPM module to extend, array, string and object prototypes. Is it possible ?
    Overriding prototypes used to be state-of-the-art, and indeed it was one of the things that made me fall in love with JS. Frameworks like PrototypeJS and MooTools were built around this and it was of very limited convenience and unlimited headaches. Source: over 5 years ago

GoJS mentions (13)

  • Ask HN: What do you use to create diagrams?
    Well I make https://gojs.net, so I just use the GoJS diagramming library to make diagrams :D Of course, its made for developers trying to make applications, not end users. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: What is the best software to visualize a graph with a billion nodes?
    My library (https://gojs.net) can do that easily. Give it a look, and if you think the price is acceptable for your project, contact us and we can make you a proof-of-concept. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Your 14-Day Free Trial Ain't Gonna Cut It
    If you click on their username, it takes you to their profile. https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=simonsarris. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • Burning money on paid ads for a dev tool โ€“ what we've learned
    Have spent six figures yearly on ads, mostly for reach for the developer-focused diagram library GoJS (https://gojs.net) > Each experiment will need ~$500 and 2 weeks I would add a zero if you want serious data. I would also double the timescale. $5,000 over 4 weeks I second the uselessness of Google Display, it might look like conversions numbers are good but they are 100% too good to be true. As soon as you look... - Source: Hacker News / almost 3 years ago
  • Any Ideas How to Create a Graph Builder UI in React?
    Used goJS in one project and konva in another. Source: over 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Prototype and GoJS, you can also consider the following products

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames - Mercenaries 2: World in Flames offers a combination of exciting elements such as Action-Adventure, Third-person Shooter, Single and Multiplayer developed by Pandemic Studios and published by Electronic Arts.

mxGraph - mxGraph is a fully client side JavaScript diagramming library - jgraph/mxgraph

Hitman - Hitman is the marvelous sixth installment in the Hitman series developed by IO Interactive and published by Square Enix.

jsPlumb - jsPlumb is an advanced, standards-compliant and easy to use JS library for building connectivity based applications, such as flowcharts, process flow diagrams, sequence diagrams, organisation charts, etc. More than just a diagram library.

Order and Chaos Online - Experience and explore the games and other upcoming updates from Gameloftยฎ. Find the game that will best fit your lifestyle!

Konva - Konva is 2d Canvas JavaScript framework for drawings shapes, animations, node nesting, layering, filtering, event handling, drag and drop and much more.