React is an open-source JavaScript library that helps you build user interfaces. It’s a component-based, declarative, “learn once and write anywhere” tool.

With 164K+ GitHub stars, 30K+ forks, and close to ~10 million weekly downloads, React is undoubtedly a great user interface library to learn and use.

If you are a developer getting started with React or thinking of using it in your side-projects or enterprises, this article is for you. If you started learning React a while ago but you’re finding it hard to grasp the basics, give this article a read.

TL;DR

This article is lengthy but should be a fun read if you want to learn React or if you’re working with it already. It answers these questions:

• How does modern JavaScript knowledge make you an efficient React developer?
• What kind of changes do you need in your mindset when you design and develop a React application?
• What are the ecosystems you need to be aware of and why?

Just chill, grab your favorite beverage, and enjoy the article.

Why I Wrote this Article

At the beginning, when I was learning React, I made the mistake of not focusing on a few essential fundamentals. As my knowledge grew more substantial, I started learning those concepts and found myself more comfortable with React.

Many of my mentees discussed the challenges they faced when dealing with React which also centered around these fundamentals. So this motivated me to write this article and share what I’ve learned.

Modern JavaScript Concepts You’ll Need to Know for React

Flexibility with Modern JavaScript

The standardized name of JavaScript is ECMAScript. ECMAScript 2015 (which is also the 6th edition, and why it’s called ES6) brought lots of cool features and new syntax to the JavaScript language.

React, and many other modern user interface frameworks and libraries, work well with ES6. It is essential to know its modern syntax and new features to make coding much easier.

This doesn’t mean you can not write a React application with ES5. You can if you have to, but you’ll kind of be doing things the hard way.

Here are a few concepts you need to learn well.

• How to Use Let and Const in JavaScript
• How to Use Template Literals in JavaScript
• How to Import and Export Modules in JavaScript
• How to Use Arrow Functions in JavaScript
• How Destructuring Works in JavaScript
• How the Spread Operator and Rest Parameter Work in JavaScript
• How to Use Classes in JavaScript

#javascript #react #web-development #programming #developer