Front-end programming is one of the most interesting branches of programming and website design. There are many libraries for front-end programming, but we can safely say that the React library is the most popular React programming library in the world.
Perhaps the question arises for many people, what factors have made React the most popular Front-End programming library?
In this article, 10 basic concepts of React are mentioned, which will help you understand this powerful library’s capabilities.
Table of Contents
1. Components
React components are like the “building blocks” of an application. In other words, every React application is made of smaller parts called components. These parts can be anything, from simple elements like a button to more complex things like a form or a shopping cart, etc.
Using components significantly simplifies the process of designing user interfaces. The developer divides the user interface (UI) into individual pieces or smaller components and works on each one independently, then combines them all into a parent component to create the final user interface.
2. Life cycle of components
React components each have a specific life cycle, including mounting, updating, and unmounting. The programmer can perform certain operations depending on the stage the component is in. The lifecycle (Lifecycle) of React components allows programmers to have precise and logical control over the component’s behavior at each stage of its life.
3. JSX (JavaScript XML)
JSX in React is a way of writing code that allows the programmer to use code with a simpler structure, such as HTML, in JavaScript code. The biggest advantage of JSX in React is that the codes are more readable and understandable.
Note that browsers do not directly understand and execute JSX. As a result, they need to be translated into JavaScript language for execution.
4. State
The state is like a memory that holds important information about components. When a component’s property is changed, the page is reloaded to reflect the changes.
For example, in a button, the number of clicks on it is stored in State and updated with each click.
As a result, using state in React helps to keep the user interface up-to-date and dynamic.
Situation management
In complex React applications, state management may become a big challenge for programmers. Redux and Context API tools are used to manage State in complex programs.
Redux is a well-known state management tool that helps programmers store all application states centrally in a store. Redux provides the ability to predict and manage the state in a structured and integrated way.
Context API is another built-in React tool that allows the developer to share a state between multiple components.
5. Use virtual DOM
The concept of DOM stands for Document Object Model, another application of React that is used for better code management and control.
DOM is a tree structure that the browser creates based on the HTML of the web page and displays each element on the page as an object in this tree.
Instead of applying changes directly to the original DOM, the React developer uses a virtual representation (Virtual DOM). That is, any change in the state or data of the component applies to this virtual view. Finally, instead of updating the entire original DOM with each change, by comparing the virtual and real DOM, only the necessary changes are applied to the original DOM.
This process helps to optimize the performance and increase the speed in the process of rendering and updating the page.
6. Props
In React, any component can receive data from another component. This data is passed to the component as “props”. Props can be any type of data, such as text, number, array, or even function.
7. React Router
React Router is an important tool in React that helps developers easily navigate between different pages of a React website. In this way, it is possible to manage different parts of the website separately.
Suppose the website has two pages: the articles page and the Contact Us page. Using React Router, the developer determines that when the user goes to “articles/”, the content of articles will be displayed, and when he goes to “contact/”, the content of the contact will appear for him.
8. Hooks
Hooks allow React developers to use advanced React features in functional components (written like regular functions). That is, instead of using class components, which require more code and are more complex, we can write simpler and more understandable code by using Hooks.
9. Error Handling
In React, error handling is a critical part of building robust and stable applications. React has provided facilities for error management, which are called “Error boundaries”. Error margins prevent JavaScript errors from occurring in their child components. This feature allows the programmer to handle errors commonly and prevent the entire program from crashing.
10. Conditional Rendering
Sometimes the programmer wants to show information to the user based on a certain condition. If this condition is met, the information will be displayed; Otherwise, they will not be displayed.
This concept is known as “conditional rendering” and is an important concept in React programming. The programmer can use comparison operators.