If you take a look at the app development statistics, you will notice that React. JS is one of the most popular JavaScript libraries to date – or any libraries, in general. What’s behind its popularity? In this guide, we take a closer look both at its bright and dark sides.
Having technical knowledge can make you feel more confident in your business partner and drive your active participation. That’s what the guides like that are for! Today, we break down React.JS – a library that you can find in the tech stack of the majority of successful applications on the market today. Check whether it is the right fit for your project!
What is React.JS?
React.JS is a widely popular JavaScript library that enables the creation of user interfaces. It was initially developed by Facebook, inspired by XHP – an extension of the PHP programming language, to cater to the requirements of their social media platform. Since then, it has become a popular choice for developers of different specializations. Its usage spans from small-scale projects to extensive platforms, powering such tech giants as Instagram, Whatsapp, Uber Eats, and Airbnb.
To understand the scale of React JS’s popularity, let’s take a quick glance at Github, which always provides relevant feedback on the current state of IT. The numbers speak for themselves – React JS has received over 200,000 stars and ranks second only to Vue.js. The community around .Net continues to grow and offers users pre-existing components that can be used to streamline product development.
Advantages of React JS
Considering its constant growth and steady popularity gain, you may already suspect that React JS is pretty advantageous. But what exactly are its strengths? Here’s a list of benefits of React JS that you may find significant.
Virtual DOM
The library’s name doesn’t come from nowhere – React is reactive in a way other tools cannot be. Let us explain. Every time the state of the application changes, it needs to be reflected in a view. You can take different paths to make JavaScript reactive. React JS introduces Virtual DOM, operating like a DOM tree. UI-related operations can be carried out on it without changing the actual DOM, which is the real representation of the interface. In React, two virtual DOM are maintained, one of them being the reflection of the updated state, and the other – of a previous state.
What benefits does it bring? First of all, it’s faster to update the virtual DOM than the real one, which adds another layer of abstraction to the process. That means, the website or the application will run smoother and its interface will re-update faster. At the same time, virtual DOM is based on a simple principle, allowing developers not to worry about transitions. That means no time wasted in development, faster results, and, of course, savings.
Modular design
React components are easily reusable, saving developers a ton of work (since the code is already tested) and making it much easier to maintain and scale the application. Reusable components also mean shorter time-to-market. At the same time, the learning curve of such a library flattens because the developers have ready components to work with without having to master the very basics. Last but not least, if you reuse components, you don’t have to worry about the consistency of your UX throughout different product versions.
Stable and refactorable code
Virtual DOM tree, essential to React, also stabilizes the data flow, keeping it always in one direction – from top to bottom. This structure prevents the errors from interfering with different parts of your code. At the same time, the simplicity of its virtual tree-based state updates makes it easier for the team to regularly refactor the code.
Limitations of React JS
Like any technology, React JS has its limitations, despite all these great benefits. For those who are not familiar with JavaScript, React may have a steep learning curve. Also, your developers should have deep expertise in handling state with virtual DOM, which may lower the performance if not handled properly. Let’s not forget about limited SEO support. Since React JS primarily renders on the client side, it can be challenging to optimize the application for search engines. If that aspect is significant for you, consider picking SEO-friendly libraries, like Next. JS.