I do like React's idea of using a virtual DOM, and it really simplifies frequent and complex state updates to the DOM. Being able to just drop in how the DOM should look like based on the current state, instead of having to manually figure out what needs to be updated when, and having the library only update the relevant parts of the DOM, makes developing web apps considerably easier.
I'm not a big fan of stateful components, though. I prefer working with hyperapp, which is similar to using React + Redux minus all the boilerplate. Either that, or I use a pure virtual DOM library* (like superfine or snabbdom) and roll my own state management.
* By pure virtual DOM library I mean a library that only does virtual DOM, not a library free of side effects. React nowadays has a lot of state and event management built in.
I do like React's idea of using a virtual DOM, and it really simplifies frequent and complex state updates to the DOM. Being able to just drop in how the DOM should look like based on the current state, instead of having to manually figure out what needs to be updated when, and having the library only update the relevant parts of the DOM, makes developing web apps considerably easier.
I'm not a big fan of stateful components, though. I prefer working with hyperapp, which is similar to using React + Redux minus all the boilerplate. Either that, or I use a pure virtual DOM library* (like superfine or snabbdom) and roll my own state management.
* By pure virtual DOM library I mean a library that only does virtual DOM, not a library free of side effects. React nowadays has a lot of state and event management built in.
By the way, I've read the second article you linked and it is so wrong I don't even know where to start.