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Nicolás Vazquez
Nicolás Vazquez

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React, the need for better code

Back in the days when web development was boiled down to 4 technologies: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP, it was probably sheer madness to dare to write JavaScript without jQuery. This was a library that allowed to add an AJAX interaction layer between the web and the applications, controlling events, creating animations and different effects to enrich the user experience.

As you can imagine, over the years technologies are becoming deprecated with the emergence of new needs and tools.

In 2011, the developers of Facebook began to face several problems when it came to maintaining the code. As the app grew and gained more functionality, the team needed to invest in employees to keep the app running smoothly. Over time, the application became increasingly difficult to scale and manage.

There came a time when Facebook engineers couldn't keep up with the updates that came out. His code required an update as soon as possible to become more efficient.

Thanks to this need, Jordan Walke built a prototype that made processes more efficient. And so, in 2013, React.js was officially born.

What is react?

  • It's one of the most popular JavaScript libraries, with almost 200,000 stars on GitHub.
  • It's a library, not a framework.
  • It's an open-source or open source project created by Facebook.
  • It's used to create user interfaces (UI) on the front-end.
  • It's the view of an MVC (Model View Controller) application

One of the most important things about React is that you can create reusable and customizable HTML elements to build user interfaces quickly and efficiently.

Thanks to React, the way data is handled is also streamlined, using states and props.

Why use React?

Thanks to what we read earlier, we already know that thanks to React we can create dynamic and scalable applications, with a better order and less code.

But it never hurts to learn more benefits of this technology:

  • It facilitates the development of front-end applications.
  • It offers greater performance, flexibility and code organization.
  • Prevents the entire page from being rendered, dynamically generating the DOM.
  • It provides greater fluidity in interfaces and interactivity, guaranteeing a better user experience.
  • It allows the encapsulation of the code in components, making it more dynamic and reusable.

Conclusion

At first, React may be a bit scary, but over time you will realize that it is easy to learn.

My advice is don't marry a technology, always be open to new possibilities. You can research other alternatives to React, such as Vue or Svelte, and choose your favorite.

Cheers! Thanks for getting here.

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