Hanieh Molavi
Introduction
React is a JavaScript library created by Facebook and is a library and tool for building user interface components based on JavaScript. Although React is a library rather than a language, it is widely used in web development. This library first appeared in May 2013 and is now one of the most popular front-end libraries for web development.
React is open source and aims to simplify the complex process of building interactive user interfaces. Imagine a user interface that React builds as a collection of components, each responsible for the output of a small piece is a reusable piece of HTML code.
It is also a declarative and component-based library that allows developers to build reusable UI components and follows a Virtual DOM (Document Object Model) approach that optimizes rendering performance by minimizing DOM updates. React is fast and works well with other tools and libraries. We use React in different parts of yedastegol.com website
B. What does React Js do?
Typically, you request a webpage by typing its URL into your web browser. Your browser then sends a request for that webpage, which your browser renders. If you click a link on that webpage to go to another page on the website, a new request is sent to the server to get that new page. This back-and-forth loading pattern between your browser (the client) and the server continues for every new page or resource you try to access on a website. This typical approach to loading websites works just fine, but consider a very data-driven website. The back and forth loading of the full webpage would be redundant and
create a poor user experience. Additionally, when data changes in a traditional JavaScript application, it requires manual DOM manipulation to reflect these changes. You must identify which data changed and update the DOM to reflect those changes, resulting in a full page reload.
React takes a different approach by letting you build what’s known as a single-page application (SPA). A single-page application loads only a single HTML document on the first request. Then, it updates the specific portion, content, or body of the webpage that needs updating using JavaScript. This pattern is known as client-side routing because the client doesn’t have to reload the full webpage to get a new page each time a user makes a new request. Instead, React intercepts the request and only fetches and changes the sections that need changing without having to trigger a full page reload. This approach results in better performance and a more dynamic user experience. React relies on a virtual DOM, which is a copy of the actual DOM. React’s virtual DOM is immediately reloaded to reflect this new change whenever there is a change in the data state. After which, React compares the virtual DOM to the actual DOM to figure out what exactly has changed. React then figures out the least expensive way to patch the actual DOM with that update without rendering the actual DOM. As a result, React’s components and UIs very quickly reflect the changes since you don’t have to reload an entire page every time something updates.
C. Why React
React’s popularity today has eclipsed that of all other front-end development frameworks. Here is why:
· Easy creation of dynamic applications: React makes it easier to create dynamic web applications because it requires less coding and offers more functionality, as opposed to JavaScript, where coding often gets complex very quickly.
· Improved performance: React uses Virtual DOM, thereby creating web applications faster. Virtual DOM compares the components’ previous states and updates only the items in the Real DOM that were changed, instead of updating all of the components again, as conventional web applications do.
· Reusable components: Components are the building blocks of any React application, and a single app usually consists of multiple components. These components have their logic and controls, and they can be reused throughout the application, which in turn dramatically reduces the application’s development time.
· Unidirectional data flow: React follows a unidirectional data flow. This means that when designing a React app, developers often nest child components within parent components. Since the data flows in a single direction, it becomes easier to debug errors and know where a problem occurs in an application at the moment in question.
· Small learning curve: React is easy to learn, as it mostly combines basic HTML and JavaScript concepts with some beneficial additions. Still, as is the case with other tools and frameworks, you have to spend some time to get a proper understanding of React’s library.
· It can be used for the development of both web and mobile apps: We already know that React is used for the development of web applications, but that’s not all it can do. There is a framework called React Native, derived from React itself, that is hugely popular and is used for creating beautiful mobile applications. So, in reality, React can be used for making both web and mobile applications.
· 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 web applications faster and easier.
· The above reasons more than justify the popularity of the React library and why it is being adopted by a large number of organizations and businesses. Now let’s familiarize ourselves with React’s features.
D. React Js Advantages
React JS is actively maintained by Meta and a community of skilled developers and companies. It is known to be fast, scalable, simple, and highly advantageous to be used to create large web applications where we can change data without reloading the page. In this article, we will talk about its various advantages.
D.1 Effortless Maintenance
Creating large applications with multiple integrations is a complex task; however, maintaining it with changing business requirements can be more complicated and expensive. But you don’t need to worry, as React JS got your back with its modular and flexible architecture, leading to modernizing each component independently without affecting others. In addition, objects defined for a particular element can be reassigned to other components to reduce the developer’s effort. As a result, less time is consumed in modernization, code is maintained, and all this is performed economically.
D.2 Fast Rendering
Handling high-volume user data and updating the application simultaneously is every enterprise’s primary business and technical goal. React JS comprises the in-built functionality of virtual DOM, making the rendering faster and enhancing the overall user experience. In addition, it makes the application lightweight, leading to boost performance and productivity. Moreover, it leverages the developers tobuild cutting-edge applications without considering state transitions, making the development timeline shorter. Also, Virtual DOM’s in-memory tree representation of real DOM makes the process sprightly accelerated between the call and display functions.
D.3 Search Engine Friendly
Every service-providing organization wants its website to display at the top of list of the search engines to reach the target audience. For this purpose, search engine optimization is performed. Many websites cannot reach the top search pages, as JavaScript pages are complex to read and rank across search engines. But, the Virtual DOM feature of ReactJS renders the application more accurate and returns the web app as a typical web page. Due to this, search bots are able to crawl through the React JS website and effortlessly analyze the relevance and rank the website on the search engine.
D.4 Reliable Development Tools
Having authentic tools for crafting and debugging an application is an essential requirement of software creation. Furthermore, it aids both the development team and users in integrating and utilizing forefront features. Developers can access several developments, designing, and debugging tools freely over the internet to fabricate React JS application development. They can also seamlessly add extensions of these tools to their Google Chrome and Firefox browsers. As a result, the development team can inspect hierarchies as they generate in Virtual DOM, and it also enables them to isolate and extend the functionality of a particular component.
D.5 Redux Facility
Redux helps to effortlessly store and manage the different states of large and complex applications for providing a seamless experience to the end user. Hence, it is one of the most desirable elements found in React JS. The primary purpose of Redux is to enable other elements to access different transition states without creating a bottleneck, interacting with the child module, and utilizing a callback. Additionally, it makes code debugging and testing easy and improves server rendering.
D.6 Offers Mobile Application Development
React JS is probably seen as a library for building websites and web apps, but it has been upgraded to be considered for creating native mobile applications in recent years. The phrase “learn once, write, anywhere” purely blends with the feature of React JS, as it allows to use same code structure and components for innovating mobile apps development. The applications crafted using React JS can be installed, configured, and utilized on Android and iOS devices. In addition, its multi-platform compatibility aids organizations in building a relationship with their users diversified across different operating systems. With this open-source library, you will be capable of extending your digital presence from desktops to mobile devices.
D.7 Stable and Streamline Code
Having a fault-tolerant front end is the requirement of every organization, and you can entirely depend upon React JS to accomplish this development goal. The React JS application holds the code for each unit independently, aiding developers in performing unit tests on every component and precisely patching potential loopholes. Additionally, with a streamlined code structure, any software development company finds it easier to reinforce the business solution and adjoin features according to current business requirements. Moreover, the stability of React JS refers to flawlessly integrating any change and smoothly running it on users’ devices, reducing the probability of system crashes and clearing the barriers in the road to migrate the system to a newer version.
D.8 Ample Community Support
If we compare React JS with any other open-source JavaScript library, its community is immensely growing, and thousands of people contribute to it daily. Around 1200 contributions are made to the React JS repository with new templates and resolved code queries every day. You can quickly resolve the difficulties during development and even use pre-developed templates to shorten the time-to-market. Additionally, Facebook Inc. actively contributes to the React JS GitHub repository, ensuring the integration of only legitimate modifications and prevention of malicious codes.
D.9 Comes with JSX
JSX is an optional extended feature of React JS used for creating components for the application. The main objective of these tailored elements is to make code simple and leaner for large enterprise-graded solutions. While writing code, you will benefit from it as it displays more errors, exceptions, and warning messages, which you can handle in the initial phases and guarantee the delivery of a quality product. Moreover, it helps the developers by providing a better insight into the working of the user interface inside the JavaScript code.
D.10 Component Re-usability
Components are the most creative way of building an application from scratch and then upgrading it to a futuristic, cutting-edge business solution. React JS provides the architecture and ecosystem to build business software based on components and reuse each component multiple times. Also, experts can utilize a particular module built for a web application for a mobile application. With this, efforts are reduced, the timeline is minimized, and it directly affects the cost to minimal for software development. In addition, it allows you to use the most optimized components in different applications to make them more appealing with a consistent look.
