Framework · 2010–2016 · Web Boom
Knockout.js
Observable view models for declarative UI. MVVM before the term became enterprise cosplay.
Knockout faded when Angular and React offered fuller ecosystems and hiring pools. It solved binding cleanly for intranet apps that never left IE timelines. Fine tool, wrong decade to build a religion around.
Context
The browser ate the desktop
The web became the default delivery surface. LAMP and Rails made shipping cheap; Ajax made pages feel like apps; SOAP/SOA tried to enterprise-ify the wire. REST won by being debuggable with curl. This decade invented the modern product cadence — and the habit of treating every new framework as destiny.
Compare with
Related
Framework · 2010–2016
Backbone.js
Minimal structure for early client MVC. Taught the browser to think in models before React rewrote the rules.
Framework · 2010–2021
AngularJS (1.x)
Two-way binding magic that became a migration tax. Angular 2+ was a rewrite; the 1.x apps lingered for years.
Framework · 2006–now
jQuery
DOM peace treaty for a fractured browser world. Mission accomplished — then frameworks ate its job.