ReactJS: An Open-Source JavaScript Web Framework

from Facebook and Community

In this article, you will find the essential information about ReactJS an open-source JavaScript web framework.

Note- ReactJS is the Web Framework and React Native is the Mobile Application Framework 

In web development, there are lots of technologies available over there. In terms of user experience, ReactJS has ruled the front end development and created great user experience. Basically ReactJS is a JavaScript library created by Facebook and driven by its community.

ReactJS (sometimes called as React) is an open-source JavaScript library for building user interfaces.

ReactJS can be used as a base in the development of single-page. However, ReactJS is only concerned with rendering data to the DOM, and so creating ReactJS applications usually requires the use of additional libraries for state management and routing. Redux and React Router are respective examples of such libraries.

ReactJS has been designed from the start for gradual adoption, and you can use as little or as much React as you need.

React is a library for building composable user interfaces. It encourages the creation of reusable UI components, which present data that changes over time. Lots of people use React as the V in MVC. React abstracts away the DOM from you, offering a simpler programming model and better performance. React can also render on the server using Node, and it can power native apps using React Native. React implements one-way reactive data flow, which reduces the boilerplate and is easier to reason about than traditional data binding.

ReactJS Advantages

1. Uses virtual DOM which is a JavaScript object. This will improve apps performance since JavaScript virtual DOM is faster than the regular DOM.
2. Can be used on the client and server-side as well as with other frameworks.
3. Component and data patterns improve readability, which helps to maintain larger apps.

Brief History:-

React was created by Jordan Walke, a software engineer at Facebook, who released an early prototype of React called “FaxJS”. He was influenced by XHP, an HTML component library for PHP. It was first deployed on Facebook’s News Feed in 2011 and later on Instagram in 2012.

• February 2020:- Current version of ReactJS (16.13.0), Fix regressions in React core library and React DOM.
• July 2013:- Initial Release to the Public (V0.3.0).
• October 2018:- The create-react-app version 2.0 package.
• Create-react-app version 2.0 supports Babel 7, webpack 4, and Jest23.

Features Of ReactJS:-

1. JSX

JSX stands for JavaScript XML. It is a JavaScript syntax extension. Its an XML or HTML like syntax used by ReactJS. This syntax is processed into JavaScript calls of React Framework. It extends the ES6 so that HTML like text can co-exist with JavaScript react code. It is not necessary to use JSX, but it is recommended to use in ReactJS.

2. Components

ReactJS is all about components. ReactJS application is made up of multiple components, and each component has its own logic and controls. These components can be reusable which help you to maintain the code when working on larger scale projects.

3. One-way Data Binding

ReactJS is designed in such a manner that follows unidirectional data flow or one-way data binding. The benefits of this give you better control throughout the application. If the data flow is in another direction, then it requires additional features. It is because components are supposed to be immutable and the data within them cannot be changed. Flux is a pattern that helps to keep your data unidirectional. This makes the application more flexible that leads to increase efficiency.

4. Virtual DOM (Document Object Model)

A virtual DOM object is a representation of the original DOM object. It works like a one-way data binding. Whenever any modifications happen in the web application, the entire UI is re-rendered in virtual DOM representation. The real DOM will update only the things that have actually changed. This makes the application faster, and there is no wastage of memory.

5. Simplicity

ReactJS uses JSX file which makes the application simple and to code as well as understand. We know that ReactJS is a component-based approach which makes the code reusable as your need. This makes it simple to use and learn.

6. Performance

ReactJS is known to be a great performer. This feature makes it much better than other frameworks out there today. The reason behind this is that it manages a virtual DOM. The DOM is a cross-platform and programming API which deals with HTML, XML or XHTML. The DOM exists entirely in memory. Due to this, when we create a component, we did not write directly to the DOM. Instead, we are writing virtual components that will turn into the DOM leading to smoother and faster performance.

Applications:-

ReactJS is used for building user interfaces specifically for single-page applications. ReactJS component is a top-level API. It makes the code completely individual and reusable in the application.

It is mainly used for

• Front-end Development
• Reusable UI component
• User Interfaces
• Website and Web Development