React.js is one of the most popular front-end JavaScript libraries for building Web applications. It is actively maintained by Meta and a community of skilled developers and companies. It is known to be fast, scalable, simple, and highly advantageous to be used to create large web applications where we can change data without reloading the page. In this article, we will talk about its various advantages, which make it so widely used among many start-ups and Fortune 500 companies.
Some advantages of React are:
- It is composable.
- It is declarative.
- Write once, and learn anywhere.
- It is simple.
- SEO friendly.
- Fast, efficient, and easy to learn.
- It guarantees stable code.
- It is backed by a strong community.
It is composable: Composition is a function of combining parts or elements to form a whole. In the old days of web development, a website was usually a single HTML page. So, a lot of time those web pages ended up being very long with thousands of lines of HTML codes. With modern frameworks like React, we can divide these codes and put it in custom components. Then we can utilize these components and integrate them into one place. Hence the code becomes a lot more maintainable and flexible. JSX is used for templating in React. JSX is a simple JavaScript that permits HTML quotation elements and uses these HTML tag syntax to render subcomponents.
Below is an example of how to use components in React:
Javascript
import React, { Component } from 'react';function HeaderContent() { return ( <h2>Hey!</h2> )}function MainContent() { return ( <h1>I'm learning React!</h1> )}function FooterContent() { return ( <h2>Goodbye!</h2> )}ReactDOM.render( <div> <HeaderContent /> <MainContent /> <FooterContent /> </div>, document.getElementById("root")) |
Output:
It is declarative: In react the DOM is declarative. We can make interactive UIs by changing the state of the component and React takes care of updating the DOM according to it. This means we never interact with DOM. Hence, it makes it easier to design UI and debug them. We can just change the program’s state and see how the UI will look at that particular time. This makes our code more predictable and easier to debug.
Write once, learn anywhere: We can develop new features in React without re-writing the existing code. It can also render on the server using Node and power mobile apps using React Native. So we can create IOS, Android, and Web applications simultaneously. In conclusion, extensive code reusability is supported by React.
It is simple: The component-based approach, automatic rendering, and use of just plain JavaScript make React very simple to learn, build a web (and mobile applications), and support it. We can mix Javascript and HTML together to create a special syntax called JSX which makes it easier to grasp and work with it.
SEO friendly: SEO is about making it easier for developers to find the right content for the user. When a user makes a search, search engines platforms like Google, Yahoo, Bing or Baidu try to find which page is the most relevant to that specific search. React affects the SEO by giving you a SPA (Single Page Application) which requires Javascript to show the content on the page which can then be rendered and indexed.
Fast, efficient, and easy to learn: It contains pre-built patterns and functions that can be chosen and combined like building blocks to create fast, appealing, and scalable projects in less time as compared to designing the entire application line by line. Also, unlike Angular and Ember which are referred to as ‘Domain-specific Language’, React only requires to need a basic knowledge of HTML and CSS fundamentals to start working with it.
Guarantees stable code: ReactJS solely use downward data flow to ensure that even minor changes in the child structures won’t have an impact on their parents. Developers only alter an object’s state when they change it; only specific components will then be updated. The stability of the code and consistent app performance are guaranteed by this data-binding mechanism.
It is backed by a strong community: React library was initially developed for internal use before being made available to everyone. The engineering teams from Facebook and Instagram as well as outside experts now support it.
Conclusion: In conclusion, React.js offers numerous advantages that contribute to its widespread adoption in the web development community. Its component-based architecture, virtual DOM, unidirectional data flow, and JSX syntax simplify development and enhance performance. The rich ecosystem and community support ensure developers have access to a wide range of resources and tools. With React.js, developers can build robust, scalable, and high-performing web applications with ease.
