Web development is a field where you need a combination of languages such as HTML, JavaScript, CSS as well as frameworks and libraries such as Angular, Vue, JQueary, React to deliver a well-rounded project. React was first introduced in 2013 by Facebook and has been growing in popularity ever since. So what is React? How can it help make our websites better?
What is React?
React is an open-source JavaScript library used for building fast and responsive user interfaces. React develops a web page as a single page application, that is, you only load the application code once and when you interact with the webpage, instead of making new requests to the server, JavaScript intercepts these requests and displays the pages and components as requested which drastically increases the responsiveness of a webpage.
React Components
Components are the heart and soul of all React applications. A component is a self-contained module which can also include other components inside it. Buttons, input fields, headers and numerous other things are React components which are then organized inside higher-level React components to form the structure of the web page.
Components are of mainly two types,
- Stateless components
- Stateful components
JSX — JavaScript Syntax Extension
JSX is essentially a react extension that allows us to write JavaScript that looks like HTML. By using JSX, we can write HTML structures in the same file that contains JavaScript code. This makes the code easier to understand and debug. The following can be written inside JavaScript using JSX instead of having to write JavaScript code to create the h1 element.
Virtual DOM
This is one of the key features of React which make it fast and responsive. DOM is means Document Object Model and it represents a document in a webpage. React creates a virtual DOM and interacts with it instead of with the actual DOM. It is stored in the memory and manipulating the virtual DOM is much faster than the real DOM. Any changes required due to events occurring are first updated in the virtual DOM and then React compares this with the real DOM and updates only the required parts. This will significantly improve the speed of an application.
React Router
React Router is a tool that enables client-side routing in React. As mentioned earlier, in a single page application, requests that are usually sent to the server are handled by React itself. React router enables us to display different web pages as needed by handling it client-side without the page refreshing instead of needing to request the new web page from the server. It intercepts the requests sent to the server and displays the required page.
BENIFITS OF USING REACT
Ability to develop re-usable components
As mentioned above, components are the heart of React applications. These components can be re-used anywhere in the application without needing to write the code again.
Small learning curve
React goes very closely with JavaScript and therefore unlike other frameworks such as Angular, it is very easy for a JavaScript developer to learn and master React.
React has a large user base
Since React is very popular it has a massive user base and what this means is that there will tons of solutions to most of the problems that you will encounter when developing.
Dedicated tools for easy debugging
Facebook has released a Chrome extension that can be used to debug React applications. This makes the process of debugging React applications faster and easier.
If you need a fast and highly responsive website React is the way to go!
Rtr. Lakshan Banneheke
Editor