September 20, 2022

Frequently asked questions about React.JS

Nadeen El okianadeen-_-

DURATION

7min

How to Use React Developer Tools

React Developer Tools is a very useful browser extension for developing React applications.

Unfortunately, not many React developers know why or how it’s used. This tool helps you write better code and make better applications.

Installing React Developer Tools

First, you need to install it as a browser extension. It’s currently available for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.

Opening React Developer Tools

To open React Developer Tools, right-click anywhere in the browser then click on inspect, this will open the browser Developer Tools. You can also open it by pressing F12. In addition to the normal tabs like console, elements, etc., you will have two new tabs, Components and Profiler.

Components Tab

The components tab shows us the structure of components in the React app, and how the components are nested. It’s used for inspecting the components tree.

How to Use Components Tab

Locating components is very simple. You click on the component you want to inspect or you can use the search bar, which is very useful if the components tree is deeply nested.
When you select a component, some of its information will be shown in the right panel like its parent component and the props that were passed to it.
When you select a component, the corresponding element will be selected on the page.
The elements tab and component tab are connected, so if you select a component in the component tab, it will be selected in the elements tab and vice versa.
The components tab is also connected to the console tab. When you select a component, head over to the console tab and type $r. It will give all the info that you can see in the component tab.

Profiler Tab

Profiler is used in monitoring performance. It allows us to record interactions. We need two or more components to be able to record an interaction so we can see how long each component took to get rendered to the page. This allows us to know which components are slowing down our app so that we can improve its performance.

Now that we know how to inspect components using React Developer Tools, we can find and resolve issues much quicker, which gives a much better React developing experience overall.

What Does a React Developer Do?

React developers, also known as front-end developers or JavaScript developers, use React to create JavaScript-based web or mobile applications. They use React to build the front-end part of the app (its UI), which is the part that the user sees and interacts with. In short, it’s their responsibility to make the user experience as seamless and smooth as possible.

Using their knowledge in React along with other technologies like HTML, CSS, etc., they can do a lot of amazing things. Here are some of them:

Developing UI Features

All the amazing UI that you see on websites from icons and images to gesture-driven features like swiping, drag-and-drop, and long-pressing are made by React developers.

Translating website wireframe into code: React developers take wireframes and convert them into actual functioning websites.

Optimization of app functionality: Not only do React developers design and create new features, but they are also responsible for cross-platform functionality. They make sure that the application can run efficiently on different browsers and devices.

Software testing

Since React developers are involved with all stages of UI development they need to test the applications they are developing.

Why React Developers Love Node

To understand why React developers love Node we need to understand what Node is. Node is an open-source, cross-platform runtime environment for developing server-side applications. Node is built on Chrome’s V8 engine.

Before Node, JavaScript was only used as a client-side language. We couldn’t run it on the machine but we could run it in the browser due to the presence of the V8 engine. So Node came in and made use of that V8 engine to run JavaScript on the machine. Now JavaScript can be used as a server-side language as well.

Since Node is written in JavaScript and React developers already know JavaScript, they don’t need to learn a new language to develop server-side applications. Using the same language for the server-side and client-side allows sharing of code which makes coding faster, easier, and more efficient.

Node Features

NPM

NPM is the package manager for Node. It contains thousands of free packages, and since NPM is installed when you install Node, it’s incredibly easy to download and use packages.

Asynchronous

In Node, all APIs are asynchronous (non-blocking) which means that the Node server does not
wait for the API to return the data.

Very Fast

Node is built on the V8 engine, which makes it very fast in executing code.

No Buffering

Node applications output data in chunks, they never buffer any data.

Can We Use React Native For Web Development?

React Native is a JavaScript framework, it’s based on React but it doesn’t target the browser like React. Instead, it targets mobile platforms. In other words, React Native is the same as React but React Native uses native components instead of web components.

With React Native, you can develop real native mobile applications using a familiar JavaScript framework. Also, you don’t need to learn iOS or Android programming to write mobile applications, unless you are developing an app that interacts with the platform’s API, which rarely happens. Since most of the code can be shared between platforms, it allows you to develop Android and iOS apps simultaneously.

So, yes, with React Native we can create a single application that runs natively on iOS and Android as well as the browser using standard web technologies.

But if React was specifically built for the web, why are we even considering React Native as an option for web development?

In reality, the foundation of mobile applications is very different from the foundation of a web application. For example, in React basic HTML elements like div are used to construct the layout, while in React Native custom UI APIs like view are used. Because of this, few technologies support building web applications and also mobile applications. React Native was built as an attempt to solve this problem. Using React Native you can build cross-platform applications that run on both mobile and web using a single codebase.

How to be a Good React Developer

Becoming a good React developer can be very hard, but with the right learning methods and the right attitude, you can make learning React a fun, easy journey instead of a long, boring one.
Here are five steps to get you started:

Code Every Day

Most people can’t excel at React because they don’t dedicate enough time and focus to coding, So you need to make coding a daily habit. Also, watching tutorials all day will not teach you React. There are some things that you won’t be able to learn unless you practice them yourself and you will find yourself noticing small details that you completely missed before.

Focused Coding

Focused coding is coding in a quiet place where you can completely focus on what you are doing. During this time you won’t be only coding, you will also be researching information, trying to solve errors, and a lot more. So how you code is very important, you could spend the entire day in front of your computer screen without learning anything.

ReactJS.org

Most people look for online courses or books when they want to learn React but let me give you a word of advice. The best way to learn React is to read its documentation, you will even find that most working React developers rely on it to get information. In my opinion, it’s the best guide you will find online. It’s up to date, it will get you familiar with the basic concepts, and it has many examples that you can try.

Start Building Small Apps

After reading the documentation and familiarizing yourself with React, building React apps is the
best way to sharpen your skills. Start with building small apps then start expanding them and adding more features. And don’t worry if you encounter a problem that you can’t solve, thanks to React’s big community you will find a lot of help online.

Take a Break

Working for long periods every day without taking a break will burn you out very quickly. If you are
feeling tired it’s very important to take a break. If you don’t, you won’t be able to consume any new information, you will only waste time and tire yourself even more. So remember to get enough sleep and take a break away from coding every once in a while, get away from your computer, go outside, and breathe some fresh air. It will do you a world of good, and remember that slow and steady wins the race.

There are basics that you need to learn to become a React developer, here are some of them:

HTML and CSS

You can’t be a React developer without learning HTML and CSS. They are essential in web development and creating UIs. Also, JSX, which is one of the most important parts of React, is very similar to HTML.

JavaScript

Since React is written in JavaScript, you need to learn it before learning React. You might be tempted to skip learning JavaScript to save some time, but in reality, you will be making things
harder on yourself. You will find yourself facing many problems that you could have easily avoided if you learned JavaScript first. Also, a lot of React concepts will be much easier to understand if you already understand JavaScript fundamentals.

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