This is a continuation of Aaryavir Mentions Svelte, a gripping saga of one developer’s brave stance against the status quo. Troubles had arrived at the Dandy Candy corporation. Their sales application was broken, and everyone argued about how to replace it. Aaryavir, the hero of our tale, valiantly stuck out his neck, and suggested they use Svelte for the rewrite. You could have heard a pin drop.

Read on to learn of the battles Aaryavir fought while defending the choice of using Svelte for the new application…

The Pin Drop

The silence lasted only but a few moments, but to Aaryavir, it seemed like hours. He was confident in his skills as a developer, but he lived near the bottom of the org chart. There were heavy hitters in this room. People who had been around for several application rewrites, the builders of today’s code base. They respected thoughtful opinions…but demanded evidence. Aaryavir’s Svelte suggestion caused immediate ripples, and confusion erupted.

Doubting Thomas

Thomas spoke first. “What the hell is Svelte?”

Thomas was the cynic of the group, and approached new ideas with skepticism. But at the same time, he was sensible, and often helped Aaryavir with tricky coding problems. Aaryavir trusted Thomas, and was glad he was the one who first broke the tension. Looking only in Thomas’s direction (and avoiding all other eyes in the room), Aarayavir responded.

“Svelte is a new Javascript framework, and I’ve been hearing good things lately. It’s reactive like React and Vue, but doesn’t work the same way. From what I understand, it compiles your code down to raw Javascript in the build step, and avoids problems those other frameworks have. Things like performance and download size. Their website is slick - there’s a video on there explaining their rationale around compilation. I usually don’t have the patience to sit through videos like that, but this one was pretty entertaining. Their guy Rich knows what he’s talking about!”

Thomas nodded thoughtfully, and Aaryavir felt a glimmer of hope. Someone was listening!

Pragmatic Aldara

Then Aldara asked, “How sure are you about this framework? We’ve got a large base of devices in the field with limited processor power, and sometimes not a lot of bandwidth. This ‘Svenne’ sounds highly experimental, and I’m worried it would break on older devices?”

Aaryavir smiled and patiently explained, “It’s ‘Svelte’ actually, and the name fits it pretty well! ‘Svelte’ means ‘slender and elegant’, and the Svelte download size is typically much smaller than those other frameworks. It being compiled ahead of time really slims things down. Also, the end result is ‘clean vanilla’ Javascript, which has a better chance of running well on those older devices. I think Svelte is perfect for this use case!”

Impatient Lyssa

Lyssa pounded her fist on the table and interrupted, “This is a waste of time! I don’t care about slick websites, funny videos, or an obscure, old-device use case! We are facing a crisis, and need a battle-hardened framework to solve it! We need to stop wasting time with half-baked ideas, and focus on PROVEN technology!”

Aaryavir took a deep breath and collected himself. Lyssa could be harsh, typically shooting first and asking questions later. But she was one of the strongest engineers on the team. Her take-no-shit attitude came from years of facing down impossible situations, and finding ways around them. She’d be hard to convince, but if Aaryavir could get her to consider Svelte, she could help convince the others.

“That’s the same thing I thought at first - yet another framework, in a landscape full of them! But their website has a section showing who’s using it, and it’s a huge list. These are big, proven companies, and they’re not going to waste time on toys. Go Daddy, Phillips, NY Times, and like 100 others. The list goes on and on. That same page shows their list of volunteers, and it’s huge as well - several hundred people. There is serious support for this framework. And they’re on V3 of the framework - it is not some new, half-baked idea!”.

Lyssa was already checking out the Svelte website on her laptop, which gave Aaryavir hope. Her expression seemed to be growing thoughtful. In fact, several people were now checking out the Svelte site, which made him even more hopeful. Who would be next?

Theodar's Concern

“Svelte sounds cool”, admitted Theodoar. “But we’re going to want to move in a hurry, and apparently you’re the only one with Svelte experience. If we choose it, there’d be a long ramp-up period. I don’t want to get stuck on a steep learning curve while the old shitty marketing site continues to fall down.”

“That’s one of the best things about it!” Aaryavir exclaimed. “It is super easy to get up and running with Svelte! Their tutorial is one of the best I’ve ever seen. Real-time experimenting with the concepts as they are introduced, and a powerful sandbox environment. It demos the end result, as well as ‘under the covers’ javascript. You really have to see this thing, it’s like candy!”.

The room chuckled at Aaryavir’s unintentional reference. There was a palpable shift in the mood, and Aaryavir took a moment to exhale. Had he won the room over?

All Eyes on Fallon

Looking around, Aaryavir saw optimistic looks on most faces. Some were still looking at the Svelte site, and many were nodding. Before long, everyone’s attention had drifted down the table to the figure seated at the end. Where Fallon, the sage of the group, sat.

Fallon was the undisputed leader, and her opinion would either make or break the idea. She was deep in thought, looking up at the ceiling. Asking herself questions, and formulating answers. Her deliberation continued for several moments, and Aaryavir almost felt an out of body experience. Fear, stress, hope, all churning in his stomach. This type of anticipation and pressure may be normal to pros, but it was horribly uncomfortable for him. All he could do is sit, wait, and breathe.

Finally, Fallon looked up, and focused her gaze on Aaryavir. “I like it. Let’s get started.”

Thoughts & Notes

• Once again, I’m trying to be creative with the names:
  • Thomas - aka, “Doubting Thomas”
  • Aldara - “vicious, cautious” - https://www.behindthename.com/names/meaning/cautious
  • Lyssa - “rage, fury, anger” - https://www.behindthename.com/names/meaning/anger
  • Theodoar - “vigilant, cautious” - https://www.behindthename.com/names/meaning/cautious
  • Fallon - “leader” - https://www.behindthename.com/names/gender/feminine/meaning/leader