I don't mean this in a bad way, but do we really need another Javascript framework? Wouldn't author's energy be more useful when contributing to one of the existing ones?
Framework fatigue is understandable. Need? No. Want? Yes and maybe. Fortunately, no one's forced to use any one thing. That's because of the answer to your question: yes, no, and maybe. Do we really need another app? Another book? New languages? More music? Yet another program? People choosing their time and pursuits is what leads to countless dead-ends and countless progress. One might want to fear a day when the generality of a no displaces the spirit of a yes, about whether an activity is justified inherently.
That really depends on the author's motives. A lot can be learned by creating "yet another X". Not everyone thinks the same way and creating a framework from scratch gives the author an opportunity to get a deeper understanding for similar concepts and possibly a chance to invent a whole new approach. So many great things would not exist if everyone just settled to use or contribute to existing projects with similar goals to their own.
Normally I'd agree, but I think this has compelling enough reason to be on it's own. The lightweight nature means it's only real competition is Backbone, which is more of a library for making a framework than a framework itself. But Mithril seems to do more while still managing to have a much lighter footprint and feel more like "just JavaScript".
You're getting downvoted because this guy thought it was an interesting problem to think about, sat down and put some effort in, came up with something he liked (and which appears to be very good) and wanted other people to see it, and your input was, "isn't this a waste of time? People have done this before!"
The fact that frameworks are appearing at a ridiculous rate is also the reason people still feel compelled to make their own: the existing ones sometimes feel thrown together and flawed in obvious ways, so people automatically think about ways they could be better and try those things out. The result is progress (edit: sometimes the result is a bag of crap, but that's beside the point).
No, we don't need more frameworks. And yet that still isn't a good reason to stop building them, if for no other reason than to explore for yourself what goes into building one (if that's your interest).
That's the reason why I just shake my head every time I hear "HTML5 will overtake native for mobile apps anyday now".
They still fight over what is the best MVC framework and have no idea what native offers. When did you last saw Android or iOS dev worried which MVC framework should they use, or maybe write their own?
Well that's just silly. The native platforms already have the frameworks in place, and have done since the beginning. If you were writing a game in a native system you'd have to choose from different frameworks - or write your own.
With JS the restrictions and limitations of the system are different. People are coming up with creative and innovative ways to work with them. There's no problem with that, it a process that's ongoing in all software, and forever will be.
Also, "You" should really avoid using "They", especially when it applies to a broad group of people that you're making assumptions and judgements about. Maybe "You" have no idea what HTML5 apps offer (like portability)? I happen to think that html5 is going to be a major player in apps development, which puts me in your "They" camp, then again, I know what native offers - so I'm one of the many contradictions to your statement.
