React while Practicing Physical Distancing

31 Mar, 2020 | 3 minutes read

Due to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak, many companies all around the globe are following the “work from home” practices, while trying to minimize the disruption of employees’ daily work responsibilities. As this outbreak has evolved, the companies with this approach are taking the health of their employees and the entire community as a top priority.

Most of us from the IT industry are accustomed to working from home occasionally, but such a big shift to a full-time remote job can be a big challenge.

While everyone is focusing on providing tips and tricks during this time of home isolation, I decided to react. React fast and learn something new, something that I added to my SMART goals list at the beginning of the year.

I started with checking the already prepared list by our colleague who is an expert in React and he suggested reading and watching the most useful tutorials that helped him to acquire the knowledge he has now.

Listed below are the steps I followed to continue learning ReactJS:

  1. Step one – Check already prepared list by our colleague 
  2. Step two – Watch udemy tutorial (React – the Complete Guide)
  3. Step three – Documentation
  4. Step four – Best practices
  5. And finally – Implement all that I learned in one POC application. 

And here is what I have learned.

Intro to React

ReactJS is an open-source JavaScript library whose primary purpose is to handle issues related to high-speed data visualization and to manage the production of interactive interfaces. It allows the developer to develop a virtual Object Document Module (DOM), allowing the client and server parties to communicate more quickly.

React allows developers to build complex user interfaces that have components that will often change over time without having to write a lot of unmanageable JavaScript code.

It is all about the components

The most important thing that React is based on and what makes it so powerful is the use of components. Using components gives the ability to split the UI into independent pieces that can later be used in isolation. Code reuse helps in making every app easier to develop and maintain. It allows breaking down complex user interfaces into simple components. With the help of the components, you can see in detail how a small part of the application works.

2. Benefits of using React

React gives the developers a chance to build powerful, fast, user-friendly and reactive web pages. There are many benefits of using ReactJS, including a high performance with virtual DOM (faster rendering), it is easy to learn/easy to use, comes with a handy developer toolset and guarantees stable code. One of the biggest benefits of ReactJS is Virtual DOM. It enables the UI to be effective in various UI changes. In React for each DOM object, there is a corresponding “virtual DOM object”.

This JS library allows the developer to design an application the way he or she sees it. All a developer needs to do is get to know the components, props and life cycles of the components. React enables state management using a state manager, such as Redux, which facilitates debugging.

3. Final thoughts

ReactJS has definitely grown in popularity for a reason. In real situations, this can make building complex user interfaces easier, but it won’t be the right tool for every situation. React and other similar libraries of JavaScript facilitate the development of useful, event-driven interfaces that respond quickly to changes in the state.

Taking into consideration the pros and cons of ReactJS, they can easily be summarized in three words: not risky, responsible and advanced. The main idea behind this particular library is: “build big data applications that are rapidly changing over time” and tackle the challenge well. It allows developers to work with a virtual browser (DOM) that is much faster and more useful to users than the real one. Briefly, it offers easy creation of an interactive interface, JSX support, component-based structure and much more. The combination of the above factors makes it a sensible choice for both startups and enterprises.

Interested in learning more about React.js? Contact us on the button below.