How to learn React - The Effective way

What is React?

React is a free and Open Source Front End JavaScript Library for building complex User Interfaces by dividing your application into smaller components. It is maintained by Facebook and a community of Developers.

Pre-requisites for learning React

Before learning React or trying to learn React, I would say to familiarize yourself with HTML, CSS, & JavaScript.You can learn HTML and CSS within 2-3 weeks as they are used for creating layouts for your web application. JavaScript takes some time to lean as it is a programming language. Spend at least a month or two learning JavaScript. Don't just learn and learn, but also create small projects to implement the knowledge that you have gained. You can create some mini projects like To-Do Lists, Calculator, Random Jokes Generator etc.

JavaScript

While learning JavaScript, you have to avoid some mistakes that I made. When I was learning JavaScript, I thought that I have to become a absolute master of JavaScript to write React code (which is non-sense). I started learning advanced concepts (as a beginner), failing which, I thought I am not good enough. But, let me tell you, as a beginner you need to learn just enough ,so that you can create basic projects in vanilla JavaScript. Some topic to learn and understand deeply are

• Variables
• if/else conditions and switch statements
• Difference between var, let & const
• Functions
• Arrays
• Array methods like filter, map, reduce etc.
• ES6 Concepts
• Promises
• Callbacks
• Async/await
• Classes and OOPs Concepts
• Working with APIs Again, don't just learn, APPLY!!

React

At this point of time, when you have learned JavaScript essentials, it is time for you to dive into React. You can start learning React by taking a look at React Official Docs or by taking their React Official Tutorial to get some idea of how React works. React Docs are very well written covering the fundamentals of React. Learn these topics very well to understand React fundamentally.

• JSX
• Components (Functional and Class based)
• Lifecycle Methods
• State
• Props
• Handling events
• Forms
• Conditional Rendering
• Working with third-party APIs. Once you have gained understanding of these topics, it is time for you to create projects in order to implement them. You can create new projects or the remake the ones you made while learning vanilla JavaScript using React.

React Router

Learn about React router. React router is a routing library for react which will help you to navigate through different pages in your React App. Learn about loading specific page's content, passing params in the URL, redirecting etc. Also, understand that react router is not a part of React, it's a routing library made for React.

Advanced React

Now, that you have basic React knowledge and also created some basic projects, it is time to learn some advanced concepts like Hooks, Context etc. Take a look at React Docs and learn these concepts.

• Context
• Hooks
• Error Boundaries
• Higher Order Components
• Code Splitting
• Refs
• Forwarding Refs
• Render props

Some extra stuff!

You can also learn some extra libraries like Material UI, reactstrap, tailwindcss, Semantic UI etc, once you have learned the basics of React. These libraries will help you in your day-to-day React Dev life. However, it is not compulsory to learn everything, you can try and learn them once you are done with React basics and can make projects.

Congratulations 🥳

You are a React Developer. Now you just have to hone you skills by creating projects and visiting React Docs often and learning new things.

Some resources to learn React -

• React JS Crash Course 2021 by Traversy Media
• Full React Course 2020 - Learn Fundamentals, Hooks, Context API, React Router, Custom Hooks By FreeCodeCamp
• Full Modern React Playlist by The Net Ninja

Some useful tips

• Don't try to learn everything at once, understand and accept the fact that you a beginner and spend enough amount of time to learn these concepts.

• Don't be afraid of writing bad code. Like I mentioned earlier, you are a beginner, at some point everyone is. Understand that Progress >>>> Perfection

• Avoid Tutorial Hell 🤯. Tutorial Hell refers to the term when you follow a tutorial after tutorial, and you think you are learning, when in fact you learn nothing. If you watching Youtube tutorials, don't just watch video after video. Realize that you are stuck in Tutorial Hell and stop watching more videos and start creating your own projects.

• Make Google, StackOverflow, articles & blogs your best friend. Start googling your questions, there is a high probability that your problem/error has already been solved by someone else on the internet.

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