Want to become a ReactJs Developer? Here's what you need to know

React is a must-have skill for all front-end developers these days. It is a free, open-source, component-based JavaScript library that helps you build robust and beautiful user interfaces. It has the latest functionalities like hooks, redux, reducers, etc, that make using it very easy yet powerful. It does have a steep, although fulfilling, learning curve. React enables us to build intricate user interfaces out of discrete, little chunks of code known as “components.” Components are what we see on our screens. They can be tied together or used individually to form a webpage or a website’s front end. React will effectively update and re-render our components as our data changes. But what is rendering? Rendering is a method that tells React what to display, therefore when our data changes the component re-runs and updates according to our changed data. Data can be passed from one component to another using props. A component can also keep an internal state data called the state. The component is re-rendered whenever the state’s data changes.

How to use React developer tools

The React Developer tool is a very useful Chrome extension that helps the developer to debug and inspect React components, states, props, hooks, etc. It makes understanding where what is implemented very easy. It can also be used to determine if a particular website uses ReactJs or not.

How to add React Developer tools to Chrome extension

To add the extension for Chrome follow this link: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/react-developer-tools/fmkadmapgofadopljbjfkapdkoienihi/related?hl=en-US

• Click on “Add extension”

• If you want to want to manage the extensions you can go to Extensions in the tools menu of your browser

How to determine if a website/application uses ReactJs using the extension

To do that we need to go to the extensions tool in the upper right corner of the tools menu.

• If the icon of the React Developer tool extension is colorful then the website uses ReactJs.
  

• If it does not show a colorful icon then it does not use ReactJS.
  

How to use the extension

When you open the Chrome browser dev tools after installing the React Developer tools, you’ll see two additional panels: Components and Profiler. Chrome Devtools may be accessed by right-clicking, selecting inspect from the dropdown menu, or typing Ctrl+Shift+I.

Components tab: The components tab’s primary function is to display the React application’s organizational structure. The structure demonstrates how each component is nested. We also learn more helpful details about the parts, for instance, functions, state, context, and props.

We can easily locate a component by clicking on the structure and it will highlight the component that it renders.

Below is an example of a simple to-do list React app.

In the image above, when the div consisting of the input element is clicked on, it highlights the same in the rendered webpage.

We want to know what’s going on inside our components most of the time. We can view a lot of helpful information about the component using React developer tools. As we use the program, we can also watch how the information changes. As an illustration, the props have changed here.

As illustrated above, when we update the to-do list with two inputs, it is passed as a prop into the ColumnList component, which is then rendered on the webpage. We can see the props in the lower section in the above image.

Profile tab: Profiler demonstrates how long it takes for each of our app’s components to render. We can determine which component is making our application sluggish. Of course, it should also perform better. Additionally, it displays if the component was rerendered and the cause of the rendering. If our app isn’t performing any pointless re-renders, it’s worth checking. And if they are, we can probably improve them, enhancing the speed of our React website.

What does a React developer do?

On the client side, React developers create web applications or employ React Native to create mobile apps. JavaScript, HTML, and CSS are essential front-end technologies that must be used for this. The tasks of React developers are versatile and can involve various stages and parts of application development.

• Developing front-end components: The development of UI components including icons, pictures, and motion functionality may fall under the purview of React developers. Swiping, long-pressing, and drag-and-drop are a few examples. The primary duty is to provide responsive interactive technology for dynamic websites.

• Working with different teams: They must collaborate with the client, backend developer, product, and UI teams to more fully grasp how to implement their vision for the app through software development.

• Testing and optimizing the software: React developers are also in charge of planning and building new features and ensuring cross-platform capabilities. They guarantee that the program will function effectively across a range of browsers and platforms. Before the application goes live, they must test and debug the interface software.

Why do React developers love Node?

Node.js enables the creation of scalable and quick back-end RESTful APIs. The front-end library React, on the other hand, produces interactive user interfaces. You can quickly create sophisticated and scalable web apps using both technologies. When utilized together, they may save critical development time and help make your web app code efficient and scalable.

The most often used platform for hosting and operating web servers for React apps is Node. After all, the Node Package Manager (NPM) command-line interface CLI allows you to install any package using NPM. Because NPM CLI is trustworthy package management, installing a package from among the many that are listed in the registry is quite simple.

Additionally, Webpack and other modules are used by Node to convert a React application into a single file that is simple to compile. It is quite simple to combine your multi-file React application into a single file for production and compile JSX (using Babel) while doing so thanks to the Webpack Node package.

There are many other advantages to picking Nodejs:

• JavaScript, which you are currently using, and Node use the same. You don’t need to spend money or effort learning additional languages. True code sharing between server-side and client-side code is made possible by using the same programming language.

• Due to React.js’ high level of code reuse and availability of rapid code sharing, developing JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) APIs for the web is competent. Additionally, Node.js effectively enables this.

• NodeJS is a good option since you don’t need to worry about multithreading for a web app in today’s architecture. Since the NodeJS web application you create should be stateless (you will connect to backend services via APIs), autoscaling (load balancing) them horizontally for redundancy and capacity is simple.

Can we use React Native for web development?

For creating genuine, natively rendered mobile applications for iOS and Android, use the JavaScript framework React Native. Although it is built on React, Facebook’s JavaScript toolkit for creating user interfaces, it targets mobile platforms as opposed to browsers. But can we use it for developing web applications? Yes! React Native was primarily created for mobile apps, but it has now evolved into a cross-platform framework that enables the creation of online applications that use native API components. In fact, React Native for Windows is being used by the Windows 11 Settings app to speed up the delivery of new features and capabilities to customers while maintaining the same high level of visual quality as Windows 11. Both the Windows SDK and the macOS 10.14 SDK are supported by React Native for Windows + macOS. For all Windows 10 and later compatible devices, such as PCs, tablets, 2-in-1s, Xbox, mixed reality devices, etc., as well as the macOS desktop and laptop ecosystems, you may utilize JavaScript to create native Windows apps using this. But unfortunately, its community is still young and growing and there could be a struggle to find solutions to some of your queries.

How to be a good React developer

Particularly if you are new to web programming, you should make sure that you have a strong foundation in vanilla JavaScript before learning React particularly. Some developers believe that launching straight into React is OK, but new developers will be more successful if they’re prepared to approach learning JavaScript strategically. Learning the language should come first, followed by learning certain libraries, such as React, and then going on to learning frameworks, such as vue or angular. You may feel confident in your abilities to work with React after you are at an advanced level with the JavaScript language, which covers DOM manipulation, and are familiar with ES6.
A few things are essential to becoming a good React developer:

• Reading the documentation: Go over every page of their documentation. Every active React developer relies on it since it is the finest online resource. It will familiarize you with the principles you need, be up to date, and, most importantly, provide you with a ton of examples to work with.

• Asking questions: It’s OK to conduct a web search when you need information or run into a coding problem. All React developers perform this task by searching on StackOverflow or Github, for example. Owning your own inquiries is also crucial.

• Developing web apps: Similar to any other language or framework, you continually practise. After mastering the fundamentals of React, you continue to explore the many components of the framework. Build bigger and bigger projects, and each time you need something, look for anything new you can use.

• Deploying your work: Make sure to list all of these projects on your resume after developing larger applications. You must first deploy them on the web to achieve that. React apps are relatively easy to deploy. Simple hosting services like Netlify or Heroku, which are both free and easy as pie, are all you need to learn how to utilize.