React and JS For Begineers

You could be someone who loves to write Javascript code like me, but shyed away from learning React probably because you were unsure of what it held for you. Or Probably when you think of learning React, you could just experience a mood change or just be skeptical about it. Or you are just someone who wants to tinker with probably the most popular frontend library. Whichever category you fit in, you are very well welcome.

BUT WHAT IS JAVASCRIPT AND WHAT IS REACTJS?

Javascript is a programming language that can help you to write interactive and functional applications(E.g Web Applications, Desktop Applications, Server-side applications. e.t.c)

React to me is a beginner-friendly tool(or Library) created by Facebook to help you build interactive and dynamic websites. In a nutshell, React is like a set of building blocks that makes it easier to create complex user interfaces.
That is all React is!

KEY FEATURES OF REACT.

1. React is Reusable and Composable.
   Both words go hand in hand, but React makes it quite easy to write blocks of code and reuse it elsewhere on different pages, do you need to make it work a little bit differently probably on another page? Trust me with React, you are just a tweak away. Unlike Javasrcript, you could do the same but the ease will be gone, imagine having to make reference to certain parts of the DOM, monitor certain aspect and all nitty-gritties.

2. React is Declarative And Not Imperative.
   I cannot just fail to mention this without strong feelings, the ease React has brought to me. Having to write lines of code to deal with the DOM in Javascript, it is just so tiring.
   Now, with React- all you need to do is write HTML like code(Called Jsx), and afix your dynamic variables in curly brackets. And all that is done.

3. React is Fast to write.
   While writing React, i was so new to the declarative feeling of just having to use React, I mean writing code in React is just so fast, Unlike having to monitor some side effects and writing a lot of listeners to listen to events, with React- you already have code blocks available at your command to do all those things you would otherwise be writing from scratch.
   Indeed a time saviour.

Probably, you are like me who has written a few web pages and
you find yourself copying and pasting the header div you wrote
on the index.html page to another page, let us say for the
sake of illustrating, the service.html page. But with React,
all that has come to an end, you no doubt need to do that
again.

<>
    <My Awesome Header/>
    <Body/>
    <Footer/>
</>

With React and its new updates, I expect to write a lot more cool apps and adding more interesting features to the apps i have written in the past.
This is just in my view on React, But there are lots of more features in React.

WHY REACT?

1. Large Community and Ecosystem:
   React is very much widely used and has a lot of active community supporting it, there are tons of resources, tutorials, and tools available to help you learn and build with it.
   It would also be helpful to mention that React powers thousands of enterprise apps, including mobile apps.

2. Flexibility:
   React can be used for simple websites or complex applications, and it also works well with other libraries and frameworks.
   With React, you could decide to use it for the whole application or just certain sections of your page.

3. Backed by Facebook:
   Being a library maintained by a major technological company like Facebook. React is regularly updated and improved. Just about two months ago, Beta version of React 19 was released on April 29.

BUT WHY LEARN JAVASCRIPT BEFORE YOU LEARN REACTJS?

1. Learning Javascript gives you the foundation of web development. Understanding its basic concepts like variables, loops, functions, and conditionals is crucial because these are the building blocks you'll use in React.

2. Your knowledge of the DOM helps you understand what React is abstracting and improving.

3. Your knowledge of Programming in Javascript will help you in debugging. React, being built on JavaScript, will require you to troubleshoot and debug as well, so having those skills in place is beneficial.

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR WHERE TO LEARN REACT?

I am about joining HNG, where i expect to get some hands down learning and internship position where i will get the knowledge and what it feels like to be in the seat of a front end developer and in the end.
Why don't you join ME at HNG where you get hands on introduction, tutorials and get someone to guide you and show you the road where you can continue to develop yourself.
You can click this link to get started- HNG11-Internship

SO THAT IS ALL!!

So, React is a powerful and flexible tool that helps you build modern, dynamic websites with ease.
It’s like having a set of high-quality building blocks that you can reuse and rearrange to create a seamless user experience unlike Javascript where you have to write from scratch and then decide what to do.

That is some tit-bits on Javascript and React.
Happy Learning ⚡🚀🚀🚀.