A major shift is taking place in frontend programming that is mostly going unnoticed: the comeback of RPC (Remote Procedure Call). Leading frameworks, such as React, Qwik and Solid are embracing RPC as the preferred mechanism for accessing backend services and data from the frontend in the form of server components, server actions, and server functions. This is surprising because RPC used to be big in the 90s but fell out of favor when the Web took off, replaced by protocols such as REST and GraphQL. Now RPC is back and replacing these protocols instead. What’s driving this resurgence? Why is it happening now? What’s its impact on the way we implement frontends? In this talk I will answer these questions and explain how to achieve the benefits of RPC, avoid its limitations and make the most from this technological comeback.

React Server Components, server$ in Qwik, Solid server functions, tRPC and more are embracing RPC as the underlying method for invoking services and retrieving data from the backend. Yet each one is implementing it in a different manner. In this talk I will review and compare these RPC implementations, and also explain:
1. What is RPC, its benefits and drawbacks
2. Understanding the evolution of network protocols, coding practices, and front-end frameworks
3. Synchronous vs asynchronous approaches to data exchange
4. The impact of typing on modern front-end development
I've researched and discussed this topic with creators of various frameworks such as Miško Hevery (creator of Angular and Qwik) and Ryan Carniato (creator of Solid).