It is interesting to see so many different opinions on this topic. In my opinion it really depends on the kind of problem you want to solve. For very simple things it can feel stupid to load in a huge js framework. If one wanted to create something like a blog where a little ajax here and there is nice one might completely skip a framework. But does a developer really want to solve standard problems that have been solved countless times? Big web applications can profit from a framework that enforces some coding standards for common problems.