The State of JavaScript in 2015
This only refers to frontend JavaScript and reflects the opinion of a dev who hasn't been using JS all that long.  Angular was never that great a framework, it's popularity was by and large because it came out of Google.  It's far too tightly coupled to the DOM and was therefore destined to have problems as HTML and browsers evolve.Npm is stable, Backbone is stable, Node is stable, Gulp is great, and devs like myself who have seen trendy frameworks come and go (Batman.js and jQuery templating come to mind) are still using the same great composable tools that were better designed from the start.Backbone (and my favorite, Spine) are built on more loosely coupled components and can be used on applications which have no DOM, such as Canvas games or native mobile apps.  Browser fragmentation has been an issue since the dawn of JS -- and these days the JS ecosystem extends far beyond the browser.Take a look at the mature tools for front or backend that major companies rely on and be glad that the open-source nature of JS produces so many options and rapid evolution.