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Danilo Vilhena
Danilo Vilhena

Posted on • Originally published at Medium

5 great tools for React developers in 2022

React has become one of the most extensively used frameworks in the world in less than a decade, and according to Statista, it’s utilized by more than 40% of developers globally. One reason for this is its small cost, as well as its myriad perks and potential.

Companies’ demand for React developers has increased as a result of the tool’s popularity. These professionals are increasingly in demand — and for high salaries.

If you want to work as a React developer, keep reading to the end of this article to find out 5 great tools to learn in 2022!👇

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1. Next.js

Next.js logo

Next.js is a flexible React framework that gives you building blocks to create fast web applications.

By framework, it means Next.js handles the tooling and configuration needed for React, and provides additional structure, features, and optimizations for your application.

Advantages of Next.js

  • Hybrid SSG and SSR: Render pages during build (Static Site Generation) or on each request (Server-side Rendering) in the same project.

  • Automatic Routing: The URLs in Next.js are mapped based on the pages folder, thus each file in this folder automatically becomes a page, with no additional setting required.

  • Internationalization: By default Next.js already has a framework for identifying different languages, working with unique routes and translations via locale.

  • Hot Code Reloading: Any changes made to the code during development will be reflected in the local application in real time.

  • Automatic Code Splitting: This feature allows pages to be rendered with only the packages they need. This ensures that each page has only the code required to render it, minimizing page size and boosting rendering speed.

Link to Next.js

2. GraphQL

GraphQL logo

GraphQL is a server-oriented query language and execution environment for application programming interfaces (APIs), with the goal of providing just the data that clients request.

GraphQL is intended to make APIs more responsive, adaptable, and user-friendly for developers.

What GraphQL isn’t?

  • GraphQL is not a database

  • GraphQL is not a replacement for SQL

  • GraphQL is not a server-side tool

Advantages of GraphQL

  • Requests are handled in a single round-trip transmission. Clients get exactly what they want, with no more information (overfetching). Which reduces data transfer costs, both on the server side (throughput) and on the client side (4G bandwidth)

  • Even on slow connections, this ensures faster response and loading times for mobile or web applications

  • Allows you to change the API of an application without affecting existing queries

  • Simplicity leads to a more stable backend

Disadvantages of GraphQL

  • Learning curve: you already know REST and will need to learn GraphQL

  • Caching is more complex with GraphQL

Link to GraphQL

3. Chakra UI

Chakra UI logo

Chakra UI is a React component library that makes it simple to create the user interface of an application or website. Its purpose is to provide a simple, modular, and cost-effective set of components that allow you to get your app up and running quickly.

Chakra strives to make every component accessible. A critical part of application development that is often overlooked.

Chakra also includes a simple API that allows developers to become productive. It allows individuals and teams to create inclusive applications without having to worry about building a bunch of components.

Advantages of Chakra UI

  • Development speed: it includes many convenient components that can be used for common day-to-day styling jobs.

  • Component factory: it offers a versatile method of creating styled components. The components can be assembled similarly to LEGO.

  • Built with TypeScript: as a result, the library offers complete IDE support as well as type checking.

Link to Chakra UI

4. Redux

Redux logo

Redux is a Flux-based container for global state management and control of JavaScript applications (it is intended to solve the problem of sharing state between components by making it unidirectional).

Without Redux, an application is obliged to trigger events between numerous components, making them closely coupled. This makes the project difficult to maintain, as one component may rely on several others to function.

Comparison of Redux and no-Redux state management

Advantages of Redux

  • Centralized state management system, i.e. store: Redux maintains state globally. The data is simply accessible to all components across the program. This centralizes all data and makes it extremely simple for a component to obtain the state it requires.

  • Performance optimizations: Redux improves performance by avoiding needless reprocessing and guaranteeing that a given component is rendered only when its data has changed.

  • Simple debugging and testing: To better understand what’s going on in your application, you can use the Redux DevTools or log the state.

  • Predictable outcome: Every action has a predictable result. Your state store serves as a centralized source of information.

Disadvantages of Redux

  • Too complex for simples applications: applications with relatively simple UI changes don’t usually require a complex pattern like Redux.

  • Slower to code shared state: but for a good reason to be manageable in the long run.

  • Increased layering complexity: in writing state manipulation logic like actions and reducers, while traditional way just setState, that’s it.

Link to Redux

5. Jest

Jest logo

Jest is a JavaScript testing framework that ensures the accuracy of JavaScript code. It enables you to develop tests using an easy-to-use, familiar, and feature-rich API that returns results rapidly.

Jest is fully documented, takes little configuration, and can be customized to meet your needs.

Advantages of Jest

  • Zero config: Jest aims to work out of the box, config free, on most JavaScript projects

  • Snapshots: make tests which keep track of large objects with ease. Snapshots live either alongside your tests, or embedded inline.

  • Isolated: tests are parallelized by running them in their own processes to maximize performance.

Link to Jest

Conclusion

There are many more excellent React tools and frameworks to explore, but in this article we met 5 of them that are in high demand by the market and are frequently utilized by many developers.

Thanks for reading! Follow me and please interact if you liked the content. Have an excellent day, see you tomorrow! 👋

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