React JS: What is It? What is Used for? Why Should You learn it?

Hi! I am glad that you are reading my new post. Today we will talk about ReactJS.

So, what is React JS Development? ReactJS (also known as React.js or React) is an open-source JavaScript library for developing user interfaces (UI). It must be said that this is the most popular JavaScript library for UI development. React offers a great answer to user input using a new method for rendering websites.

It is developed and maintained by Facebook, Instagram and the community of individual developers and corporations.

React can be used to develop a single page (SPA) and mobile apps. Its goal is to provide high speed, simplicity and scalability. As a library for developing UI React is often used with other libraries such as Redux.

The next question is why you should learn it. There are many compelling reasons. Here they are:

1. Easy to use

React is focused on one specific goal — efficiently completing tasks in user interface development. It is only “V” in the MVC (Model-View-Controller) architectural pattern.

As a JavaScript developer, you will easily understand the basics of React. And within a few days, you can start developing your first application.

To expand and consolidate your knowledge, keep reading. An excellent source of information is the guides on the official website. There you will also find a lot of useful information about using this technology: videos, various tutorials and other important data.

2. Better Performance with Virtual DOM

React effectively updates the DOM (Document Object Model) process. As you probably already know, this process can be frustrating when developing web applications. Fortunately, in React virtual DOMs are used, so a lot of problems can be avoided.

The library allows you to create virtual DOMs and place them in memory. As a consequence, every time there is a change in the real DOM, the virtual one changes instantly.

This system will prevent real DOM from obliging constant updates. As a result, the speed of your application will not suffer.

3. Writing Components Easily

It is easier to create the React component because it uses JSX, an optional JavaScript syntax extension that gives you an opportunity to compound HTML with JavaScript.

JSX is a great blend of JavaScript and HTML. It makes the whole process of writing the structure of a site easier to understand. Besides, the extension also makes rendering multiple functions much easier.

While JSX may not be the most popular syntax extension, it has proven to be effective when developing custom components or large applications.

4. SEO friendly

React gives you permission to build user interfaces that can be accessed from different search engines. This characteristic is a huge advantage, because not all JavaScript frameworks are SEO-optimized.

Because ReactJS can speed up your app, it can also make better SEO results. Loading speed plays an important role in SEO optimization.

But it’s worth noting that ReactJS is just a JavaScript library. And therefore it cannot do everything itself. You will need to use extra libraries for state management, communication and routing.

5. One-way data binding

Properties are passed from parent components to child ones. Components receive properties as a set of immutable values, so a component cannot directly modify properties, but can cause changes via callback functions. This mechanism is called “properties down, events up”.

6. Life cycle methods

Lifecycle methods make it possible for a developer to run code at different stages in a component’s lifecycle. For example:

• shouldComponentUpdateprevents the component from being redrawn by returning false if no redrawing is needed.
• It is called after the component is first rendered. It is often used to trigger receiving data from a remote source via an API.
• renderis the most important lifecycle method. Every component must have this method. Typically, this method is called when the component data changes to redraw the data in the interface.

7. Supports Reusable Java Component

React permits you to reuse components which have been developed in other apps that use a similar function. The reusability of the component is a clear benefit for developers.

Furthermore, ReactJS is used by hundreds of great companies around the world, including Airbnb, Netflix, American Express, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, eBay and many others. This is proof that the tool has a number of advantages that cannot be competed with.

To sum up, I would like to tell you some proofs to use React:

• It is great for team development, strict adherence to UI, and workflow template;
• UI code is readable and easy to maintain;
• Component-based UI development is the future of web development and you should start doing it now.

Hopefully, this article has given you some insight into what React is. Wish you all the best! Goodbye!