React is a JavaScript library for creating interfaces and has been adopted by Instagram and Facebook. React is envisioned to be the ‘V’ in MVC (Model-View-Controller), i.e., the user interface. It has been intended to solve the problem of large application where data deviate over time. It is used to create reusable, interactive and state full components. React is ideal for SPA or single page application. Instagram, the popular photo sharing application, and services are entirely written in React. It uses a high-speed virtual DOM or Document Object Model which gives it an easy-to-use and understand syntax.
React became very popular because of its rapid DOM rendering speed. Though it creates a tree for all nodes, reading and writing the DOM is slow. React JS uses the concept of a virtual DOM that will make it easier. Its popularity can be measured by the fact that even foremost apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Netflix are making use of the React JS. So, what leads to React JS as a favored technology to develop excellent web and mobile apps? We list down 7 top explanations in support of it.
Let’s dig on the first things first. It is important to get an insight into the basics and how it functions to leverage its features before you start using a technology to develop the web and mobile app. React JS is not a full-featured framework. It is a JavaScript open source GUI library that concentrates on one precise thing and aims to achieve the task efficiently. JavaScript developers would find it easy to understand the basics and start creating web apps using this technology within a few days of mastering the tutorials and documents.
React gives a component based structure. It means your lego pieces, indicating those tiny components like button, checkbox, dropdown etc. You develop wrapper components composed of those smaller components. It goes on until you have this one root component and that component is your app.
Each component has its own core logic and decides how it should be rendered. The approach has some astounding result. These are (1) Your app has a consistent feel and look, (2) it is easier to develop your app, and (3) code reuse makes it a lot easier to maintain and grow your codebase.
This component based structure assisted us building in both within the form editor and on the actual form (as we make forms as HTML using server-side JavaScript).
Any web application involves view updatesand high user interaction. It is like the new form builder on JotForm 4.0, you need to consider the possible performance issues. When you are about to develop a web application you will come across today’s JavaScript engines are fast enough to handle complications. Such complication includes complex applications or DOM manipulation which are still not that fast. Web performance is highly depending on updating DOM is usually the bottleneck option. React is trying to solve the problem by utilizing virtual DOM which is a DOM kept in memory. Virtual DOM first monitors any view changes and then an effective different algorithm compares the previous and current state of the virtual DOM. It calculates the best way with a minimum number of updates needed. Finally, those updates are applied to the DOM to ensure least read/write time. This is the cause behind React’s high performance.
The influential side of React is that it gives a good abstraction. It means that it does not expose any complex internals to the user. If we compare this to Angular: Why should you have to understand an internal process like digest cycles? These details can be kept as internals to give clean abstraction. What you have to learn is a component’s life cycle, pros, and states to master React. React does not command any architecture or pattern like MVC/MVVM. It’s only about the view layer and you are all free to design your app’s architecture in any way you see fit. Onearchitecture that fits really well called Flux.
Facebook introduced and supported Flux architecture and they use it for their web applications. It praises React components by providing unidirectional data flow. The chief idea is to create actions that are arranged by a central dispatcher to update stores. Respect to the changes in that store, the view is updated. Data are to be displayed by components that are kept in stores. They are not duplicated as models in MVC structure. It saves you from trying to keep your model data in sync during the application all the time.
Regrettably, flux is not a ready to use library though there is such execution. The popular one is Redux, a kind of reinterpretation of Flux architecture. It provides a single store and this is a great decision you should make for having a single source of truth.
Often, developers have to face the question of JavaScript frameworks not being search engine friendly at all. This problem leads to an application developed on JS not becoming SEO-friendly in most instances. With React JS, you can overcome this hurdle with interfaces that users can browse on different search engines.
React JS was developed keeping the requirements of software developers in mind. That is the reason React JS comes with a tool set that earns accolades from the developers. React Developer Tools has been designed as a Chrome dev extension that allows you to perceive reactive component hierarchies and observe a component’s present state and props. There are two great tools you should be aware of Redux Developer Tools and React Developer Tools. Both can be installed as Chrome extensions.
If you are a developer who is worried about single page applications and desire to come up with fast, responsive and user-friendly apps, React JS is certainly a worthy choice. If you want to develop large-scale apps with frequently changing data, React JS can support you to meet the challenge in a successful manner.
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