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Learn React.js in a weekend

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Re: Learn React.js in a weekend

#11

Post by Pfhreak »

hit8run wrote: post #6

How about: RTFM https://facebook.github.io/react/docs/getting-started.html I don't get the react hype anyways. Writing inline HTML in JavaScript seems so weird to me (JSX).

Everyone has different mechanisms for learning. As someone who learns from manuals, tutorials, and videos simultaneously, a new technology presented as a wall of text can seem impenetrable until I've watched another human make something happen.

Then, I can loop back to that text armed with a little context. Videos are often examples of how to develop with the technology outside of a bubble. (Using React? Consider setting up webpack!) That seems to be missing from manuals sometimes.

Re: Learn React.js in a weekend

#12

Post by walmartian »

hit8run wrote: post #6

How about: RTFM https://facebook.github.io/react/docs/getting-started.html I don't get the react hype anyways. Writing inline HTML in JavaScript seems so weird to me (JSX).

Separating html out into a separate file/template always seemed weird to me. In every JS Framework HTML and Javascript are tightly coupled. JSX is also javascript, not HTML.

Re: Learn React.js in a weekend

#13

Post by mmanfrin »

dopeboy wrote: post #8

Question for people who learn by video rather than text based guides - why do you find it more effective? I have trouble following someone else's pace in a video (or audio for that matter). I also like to be able to copy and paste code into my editor. Navigation to particular sub sections is easier too.

Sometimes it's seeing the workflow. Sometimes it's seeing the outcome without having to run a hello-world yourself. But I think mostly it's because videos give a much better overall topology quicker than reading. For example, I'll watch a screencast end-to-end, and then I'll begin the project and start to go through it slower, knowing which branches of the text tutorial are important because I've seen the complete picture.

Re: Learn React.js in a weekend

#14

Post by firasd »

hit8run wrote: post #6

How about: RTFM https://facebook.github.io/react/docs/getting-started.html I don't get the react hype anyways. Writing inline HTML in JavaScript seems so weird to me (JSX).

The argument (among others) is that if you're going to be using if/else, for loops, and all that in a templating language you might as well use a full-featured language like JavaScript... (youtube timestamp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7cQ3mrcKaY&t=4m13s)

Re: Learn React.js in a weekend

#15

Post by _asummers »

dopeboy wrote: post #8

Question for people who learn by video rather than text based guides - why do you find it more effective? I have trouble following someone else's pace in a video (or audio for that matter). I also like to be able to copy and paste code into my editor. Navigation to particular sub sections is easier too.

I get different things from videos than I do text. From a video, I get a "why" and a "how" most often, whereas from text I get a "what". Obviously text can represent why and how, but I feel there's something lost going from screencap to screencap that is perfectly captured in video about the process of getting from point A to point B. Additionally, most blog posts don't publish the mistakes (let's try this thing! crap it didn't work, here's why. This is especially true as a result of a question.) but you can very easily convey that type of information in video by just showing it not working. The pacing thing is totally a valid concern and I find myself watching youtube videos at 1.5 or 2x speed to consume the content.

Re: Learn React.js in a weekend

#16

Post by leeoniya »

firasd wrote: post #14
hit8run wrote: post #6

How about: RTFM https://facebook.github.io/react/docs/getting-started.html I don't get the react hype anyways. Writing inline HTML in JavaScript seems so weird to me (JSX).

The argument (among others) is that if you're going to be using if/else, for loops, and all that in a templating language you might as well use a full-featured language like JavaScript... (youtube timestamp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7cQ3mrcKaY&t=4m13s )

or, you know, just write the app in pure javascript and still reap the benefits of [2-3x faster than React] virtual dom. though i'm a bit biased [1] ;)

[1] https://github.com/leeoniya/domvm

[2] http://mithril.js.org/

Re: Learn React.js in a weekend

#17

Post by natmaster »

dopeboy wrote: post #8

Question for people who learn by video rather than text based guides - why do you find it more effective? I have trouble following someone else's pace in a video (or audio for that matter). I also like to be able to copy and paste code into my editor. Navigation to particular sub sections is easier too.

My brain simply absorbs information at a faster rate with video/audio than reading.

Re: Learn React.js in a weekend

#18

Post by michaelbuckbee »

dopeboy wrote: post #8

Question for people who learn by video rather than text based guides - why do you find it more effective? I have trouble following someone else's pace in a video (or audio for that matter). I also like to be able to copy and paste code into my editor. Navigation to particular sub sections is easier too.

I always liked Railscasts and the companion/transcribed "Asciicasts".

I think the video format is a kind of forcing function in terms of the presenter really explaining things (if they aren't just reading off the screen). Which in turn made the transcript great to read.

Re: Learn React.js in a weekend

#19

Post by a13n »

I don't recommend learning Redux the first weekend you learn React. This would be akin to learning about Relativity the first weekend you learn Mechanics. I actually think it's detrimental to suggest beginners learn Redux alongside React because it unnecessarily steepens the learning curve.

Not that Redux is too complicated (it actually has a super simple API). Redux is a (fantastic!) tool you should use once your project is at a large enough scale that you need it. You can go a long way in vanilla React before you feel the pains that Redux (or Relay) solves. The React part of my current codebase is over 25k LoC and I still don't feel the need to throw Redux into the mix.

Take a peep at http://djcordhose.github.io/hh-react-conf-2016/redux-vs-rela...

If you're just starting out then first spend several weeks/months in vanilla React. Unless you need to learn Redux to work on a bigger codebase at a new job or something...

Qualification: I used to work on React Native at Facebook.

Re: Learn React.js in a weekend

#20

Post by a13n »

leeoniya wrote: post #16
firasd wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The argument (among others) is that if you're going to be using if/else, for loops, and all that in a templating language you might as well use a full-featured language like JavaScript... (youtube timestamp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7cQ3mrcKaY&t=4m13s )

or, you know, just write the app in pure javascript and still reap the benefits of [2-3x faster than React] virtual dom. though i'm a bit biased [1] ;) [1] https://github.com/leeoniya/domvm [2] http://mithril.js.org/

Meh since when is computational performance really a bottleneck? Do you find your site is loading seconds too slowly because JS is executing? I sure don't.

On today's machines the much larger bottleneck is how fast and easily you can iterate on product at scale which is a problem that React is a fantastic solution for.

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