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Front end development has evolved significantly over the past decade. Many new frameworks have emerged with the goal of making front end development a breeze but very few managed to hold its own while rest died out. One of the new entrants that made waves was ReactJS and continues to transform custom software development industry.
With more than 30,000 websites built using React JS framework and some of the big companies such as Apple, PayPal and Netflix using it, React JS is surely the next big thing. For developers who knows JavaScript like a palm of their hand, getting started with ReactJS won’t be a problem. If you are still confused whether you should go for ReactJS or not then, this article will convince you to use it by giving you seven solid reasons.
1. Easy to Learn and Understand
As mentioned before, JavaScript developers will find right at home when working with ReactJS and will master it quickly and easily. Even if you compare ReactJS with other front-end development framework such as Angular, you will find ReactJS much easier to learn and understand.
All you need is basic knowledge of HTML and CSS and you are good to go. On the contrary, other front-end development frameworks such as Angular uses Typescript, which you must learn first before moving on to Angular. There is also a version specifically for mobile app development called React Native that offers multiple advantages over its competitors.
2. Reusability of Code Components
When Facebook took over React JS, it was rigid and did not allowed developers to reuse code components. Facebook added that functionality to it and made life easy for ReactJS developers. Not only does this saves a lot of time but it also saves developers from hassle of writing the same code again and again. What’s great about ReactJS is that all the components are isolated from one another therefore, making changes to one component won’t affect other components., making system upgrades much easier for webmaster to handle.
3. Stability of Code
With data flowing in one direction only, you can achieve higher code stability with ReactJS. What this means is that changes you make in child structure won’t have any impact on parent structures when developers use data binding techniques. Making changes to objects is also straightforward as you only have to modify its state. Data flow downwards eliminating the risk of changes in child structure affecting parent data.
4. Quick Rendering
When creating heavy applications or dynamic software solutions, you want quick rendering. Unfortunately, most front-end development fails to provide this facility. Facebook development team ensured that this is not the case with ReactJS by implementing virtual DOM that helped in removing bottlenecks from code rendering and make the process smoother.
As the name suggests, Virtual DOM is a virtual representation of a traditional document object model (DOM) that let you apply changes virtually and let you perform DOM changes with minimal effort. This method guarantees exceptional user experiences and blazing fast performance by minimizing the time required for making changes to the DOM.
5. SEO Friendly
Did you know that search engines can not read JavaScript heavy applications? Although, Google has made the necessary adjustment, but other search engines are still struggling to crawl JavaScript heavy apps. ReactJS offers a perfect solution to this problem by running on a server, returning a virtual DOM request to the browser and rendering it as a regular web page. This makes it easy for search engines to crawl your website or mobile app, which increases your chances of getting ranked on the top of search engine index.
6. Helpful Developer Toolkit
With an extensive toolkit for developers, ReactJS makes development a breeze. Its debugging and design tools are best in its class. You can also download a browser extension called, “React Developer Tools” for both Chrome and Firefox. It is a great extension that let you observe reactive components, inspect current state and pros of different components and figure out child and parent components.
7. Strong Community
Initially developed for internal use, React library was made available to the world later. With more than 1100 contributors on GitHub and an active community of ReactJS developers on major platforms such as StackOverflow, Slack, Reactiflux Chart, Freenode IRC and different forums help you get satisfactory answers to your questions.
This makes the transition easier for new developers as the strong React community will not only welcome new comers but will also facilitate them on each step. This encourages developers to try React JS as they know that even when they get stuck on a complex problem that can not get their heads around, there are many friends you can look up to for some help.
Which is the most important reason for switching to React JS? Feel free to share it with us in the comments section below.
Thanks for sharing such a good information, I most of the confusion is close now.
This is some real good practical stuff here! Thank for sharing
syspree.com
Some more websites built on React.JS : http://bit.ly/2y21CRr
Hey Irfan, your article was very detailed and well written. I learned a lot of new things from your article. Keep on providing us great valuable content, Thanks!!