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Discussion on: When to Start Learning a Front-End Framework

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grimmdaniel profile image
Daniel Grimm

I’m working as an iOS developer (Swift, Objc), so I would say I’m not a totally newbie in programming. But some days ago I started to think about that maybe I should learn react native. I have a very basic html/css knowledge, but no JS.
My question is, what do you think, how much pure JS should I learn before dive into react native, I mean of course I know what basic things like functions, loops, lambdas (closures) are, so I don’t want to waste so much time on these, I would like to start using react native as fast as possible.

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canderson93 profile image
Carl Anderson • Edited

Normally, I'd suggest that you do some building with React before going into React Native, but since you already come from the mobile world, it may be easier for you to pick up React Native almost immediately - that way you'll encounter concepts you're familiar with immediately instead of having to learn Web Development just so you can practice.

Since you're already familiar with programming, rush through a JS course to learn the syntax (particularly the stuff introduced in ES6), keep a tab open to look up the parts you forget and then dive straight into React Native. The only thing I would recommend is that you keep your React Native configurations as out-of-the-box as possible while you're learning so you don't go down a weird rabbit hole trying to configure Webpack etc.

Expect to spend a little time bouncing around between the React and React Native docs as you get a grasp of the concepts, though. React can be a weird way of thinking if you're not used to it - I've found the writings of Dave Ceddia to be really helpful with React.

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grimmdaniel profile image
Daniel Grimm

Thank you for your fast and informative response!