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Free React.js Fundamentals Course

courses.reactjsprogram.com

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Re: Free React.js Fundamentals Course

#14
post #12

Honest noob question, what's with all the hype about React? Edit: Awesome replies, thank you!

It fundamentally changes the way we think about frontend web development in a very positive way. It makes things more testable, reliable, fast, and easier to write. Combined with things like Redux we also get crazy features like time travel.

Re: Free React.js Fundamentals Course

#15
post #12

Honest noob question, what's with all the hype about React? Edit: Awesome replies, thank you!

- Great way to build component based UIs

- Combined with immutable state manager like Redux, it can dramatically simplify front end development.

I used to hate working on website frontends. Tangled webs of event handlers and dom mutation. React got rid of the mess and I once again enjoy working on the front end.

Re: Free React.js Fundamentals Course

#19
post #12

Honest noob question, what's with all the hype about React? Edit: Awesome replies, thank you!

From my point of view, React brings two important ideas to web app development:

1. The virtual DOM. When I'm writing jQuery-based code, I have to write both a component template and code that updates the DOM in response to input; when I'm writing code for a virtual DOM, the component template is sufficient to update the DOM and I don't have to write that extra code, so there are fewer chances for bugs to creep in.

2. HTML-like syntax embedded in Javascript (JSX). I didn't like this at first until I configured Sublime Text to highlight embedded HTML correctly. Embedded HTML has pros and cons, but I think it's a net positive.

React projects also typically include new tech like ES2015, webpack, hot code reloading, and Redux with its time-traveling debugger. You can build your own stack that uses a virtual DOM library, embedded HTML, ES2015, and so on, but it's helpful to start with a common stack that many people understand. That's why React is interesting.

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