In this post, we talk about React: utility, benefits and companies that use it.
What is React and what is it used for?
It is a Javascript library, created by Facebook, for the client side (that is, it runs in the browser). It allows you to develop web interfaces and is very easy to use. It works on the basis of web components, to create single page applications. This type of application runs entirely on the client side, is quite fast and improves the user experience.
Thanks to the use of the Virtual DOM, it became famous. According to the official documentation: Virtual DOM (VDOM) is a programming concept where an ideal or “virtual” representation of the UI is kept in memory and in sync with the “real” DOM, using a library such as ReactDOM. This process is known as reconciliation.
This approach makes React’s declarative API possible: you tell React what state you want the UI to be in, and it will take care of bringing the DOM to that state. This abstracts away the attribute manipulation, event handling, and manual updating of the DOM that you would otherwise have to use to build your app.
Because “virtual DOM” is more of a pattern than a specific technology, it is often given different meanings. In the React world, the term “virtual DOM” is often associated with React elements, as they are objects that represent the user interface. However, React also uses internal objects called fibers, to hold additional information about the component tree. These can also be considered as part of React’s “virtual DOM” implementation.
List of benefits:
- Allowing the development of modern applications.
- Having a huge community.
- Being backed by the Meta company.
- Taking advantage of Javascript features.
- Being open source.
- Enabling excellent application performance.
- Proposing a design based on modules and components.
- Being characterized by having the virtual DOM.
- Being isomorphic. You can render Javascript components on the server side with Node.js, and create an application with good SEO.
- Containings the React Native library, to develop cross-platform mobile applications. This means that you can create apps for Android or iOS, using React Native, and save time and money on development.
Companies using React
Among the companies that have used this library, we can highlight: Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Yahoo, New York Times, Netflix, Airbnb, Discourse and Dropbox.
In short, the React library is one of the most used today for web and mobile development. If you have a project that you need to carry out, at MyTaskPanel Consulting we can help you.
