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What is reactjs and How it works? An Overview and Its Use Cases

What is ReactJS?

ReactJS is an open-source front-end JavaScript library for building user interfaces. ReactJS is maintained by Facebook and a community of individual developers and companies. It is widely used as a base in building single-page websites and mobile applications. It is very easy to use, and it allows users to create reusable UI components.

Evolution Of React

React is a JavaScript library used to build the user interface for web applications. React was initially developed and maintained by the folks at Facebook, which was later used in their products (WhatsApp & Instagram). Now it is an open source project with an active developer community. Popular websites like Netflix, Airbnb, Yahoo!Mail, KhanAcademy, Dropbox and many more use React to build their UI. Modern websites are built using MVC (model view controller) architecture. React is the ‘V’ in the MVC which stands for view, whereas the architecture is provided by Redux or Flux. React native is used to develop mobile apps, the Facebook mobile app is built using React native.

Facebook’s annual F8 Developer conference 2017, saw two promising announcements: React Fiber and ReactVR. React Fiber is a complete rewrite of the previous release focusing on incremental rendering and quick responsiveness, React Fiber is backward compatible with all previous versions. ReactVR is built on top of React Native frameworks, it enables developing UI with the addition of 3D models to replicate 360-degree environment resulting in fully immersive VR content.

Features of ReactJS

JSX : JSX is an extension to javascript. Though it is not mandatory to use JSX in react, it is one of the good features and easy to use.

Components: Components are like pure javascript functions that help make the code easy by splitting the logic into reusable independent code. We can use components as functions and components as classes. Components also have a state, props which makes life easy. Inside a class, the state of each of the props is maintained.

Virtual DOM: React creates a virtual dom, i.e., in-memory data -structure cache, Only the final changes of DOM has later updated in the browsers DOM.

Javascript Expressions: JS expressions can be used in the jsx files using curly brackets, for example {}.

Advantage of ReactJS

1. Easy to Learn and USE

ReactJS is much easier to learn and use. It comes with a good supply of documentation, tutorials, and training resources. Any developer who comes from a JavaScript background can easily understand and start creating web apps using React in a few days. It is the V(view part) in the MVC (Model-View-Controller) model, and referred to as ?one of the JavaScript frameworks.? It is not fully featured but has the advantage of open-source JavaScript User Interface(UI) library, which helps to execute the task in a better manner.

2. Creating Dynamic Web Applications Becomes Easier

To create a dynamic web application specifically with HTML strings was tricky because it requires a complex coding, but React JS solved that issue and makes it easier. It provides less coding and gives more functionality. It makes use of the JSX(JavaScript Extension), which is a particular syntax letting HTML quotes and HTML tag syntax to render particular subcomponents. It also supports the building of machine-readable codes.

3. Reusable Components

A ReactJS web application is made up of multiple components, and each component has its own logic and controls. These components are responsible for outputting a small, reusable piece of HTML code which can be reused wherever you need them. The reusable code helps to make your apps easier to develop and maintain. These Components can be nested with other components to allow complex applications to be built of simple building blocks. ReactJS uses virtual DOM based mechanism to fill data in HTML DOM. The virtual DOM works fast as it only changes individual DOM elements instead of reloading complete DOM every time.

4. Performance Enhancement

ReactJS improves performance due to virtual DOM. The DOM is a cross-platform and programming API which deals with HTML, XML or XHTML. Most of the developers faced the problem when the DOM was updated, which slowed down the performance of the application. ReactJS solved this problem by introducing virtual DOM. The React Virtual DOM exists entirely in memory and is a representation of the web browser’s DOM. Due to this, when we write a React component, we did not write directly to the DOM. Instead, we are writing virtual components that react will turn into the DOM, leading to smoother and faster performance.

5. The Support of Handy Tools

React JS has also gained popularity due to the presence of a handy set of tools. These tools make the task of the developers understandable and easier. The React Developer Tools have been designed as Chrome and Firefox dev extension and allow you to inspect the React component hierarchies in the virtual DOM. It also allows you to select particular components and examine and edit their current props and state.

6. Known to be SEO Friendly

Traditional JavaScript frameworks have an issue in dealing with SEO. The search engines generally having trouble in reading JavaScript-heavy applications. Many web developers have often complained about this problem. ReactJS overcomes this problem that helps developers to be easily navigated on various search engines. It is because React.js applications can run on the server, and the virtual DOM will be rendering and returning to the browser as a regular web page.

7. The Benefit of Having JavaScript Library

Today, ReactJS is choosing by most of the web developers. It is because it is offering a very rich JavaScript library. The JavaScript library provides more flexibility to the web developers to choose the way they want.

8. Scope for Testing the Codes

ReactJS applications are extremely easy to test. It offers a scope where the developer can test and debug their codes with the help of native tools.

Disadvantage of ReactJS

1. The high pace of development

The high pace of development has an advantage and disadvantage both. In case of disadvantage, since the environment continually changes so fast, some of the developers not feeling comfortable to relearn the new ways of doing things regularly. It may be hard for them to adopt all these changes with all the continuous updates. They need to be always updated with their skills and learn new ways of doing things.

2. Poor Documentation

It is another cons which are common for constantly updating technologies. React technologies updating and accelerating so fast that there is no time to make proper documentation. To overcome this, developers write instructions on their own with the evolving of new releases and tools in their current projects.

3. View Part

ReactJS Covers only the UI Layers of the app and nothing else. So you still need to choose some other technologies to get a complete tooling set for development in the project.

4. JSX as a barrier

ReactJS uses JSX. It’s a syntax extension that allows HTML with JavaScript mixed together. This approach has its own benefits, but some members of the development community consider JSX as a barrier, especially for new developers. Developers complain about its complexity in the learning curve.

Conclusion:

Now that you’re clear about the advantages and best practices of ReactJS framework, it should come as no surprise that most of the big and middle companies are leveraging ReactJS development services to design their website’s user interfaces. So, if you are looking for a ReactJS developer who can completely understand your requirements and ensure the best results for your ReactJS projects.

Rajesh Kumar
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