React is an open-source JavaScript library that is useful in building web application interfaces. React or rather ReactJS helps in building a stronger framework for its products by reusing components. There are two-parts in ReactJS – HTML code and HTML document. The user view layer or the User Interface (UI) is built using HTML code. The HTML page contains all of the components.
Jordan Walke, a Facebook software engineer, created React. React was made in the year 2011. However, React was initially used for Facebook. React library is helpful in developing websites and apps. Some of the major companies that have used React include Whatsapp and Instagram. Thus, React was released to the public in 2013.
Advantages of Using React
Simple:
React is considerably simpler to understand and apply. Therefore, any developer with JavaScript experience can quickly grasp React and begin building web apps.
Reusable Elements:
One of the essential advantages of React is code reusability. Reusability simplifies the workload of react development company developers. For similar app components, programmers do not need to create different scripts. Hence, they can reuse the code. Thus, code reusability helps to reduce production costs.
Easy Code Testing:
Another vital feature of React is testing. It contains native tools which help in easy testing and debugging. ReactJS component-based architecture reduces the need for extensive debugging. When you change one component of the app, it does not affect the others. As a result, React saves a lot of time for testing and troubleshooting.
SEO Friendly:
ReactJS allows for quicker web page generation. The page loading time for React applications is much lower than the others. Hence, the bounce rate of React pages is low. In addition, the components of React, i.e. React Helmet and React Router, helps to build SEO-friendly applications.
How Do React Components Aid in Web Application Development?
A React component is one of the core elements of React application. In other words, any application you create in React will be built using elements known as React components. The developer can build the UI faster using React components.
React components are of two types:
Functional Components
Class Components
In addition to these two components, React contains other similar elements that aid in developing the application.
Let’s move on to the different components of ReactJS.
Components of ReactJS
Functional Components
Functional components are JavaScript functions that help in creating React applications. The functional components are helpful whenever the functional component does not require the data from any other components. Meaning, functional components do not interact with other components.
Class Components
Class components are similar to functional components. But class components are more complex than functional components. Class components interact with each other. Therefore, class components exchange data with other components.
Higher-Order Components
The Higher-Order Components (HOC) accept a component as input and return the component as output, but with additional functionality. HOC in React is a standard advanced React paradigm for deploying reusable logic and functionality across React components.
Dumb Components
Dumb components are also known as stateless functional components since it requires only a few computer resources to render such as memory, CPU, and GPU.
Smart Components
Any class component that maintains its state is also known as a smart component. Smart components work similarly to class components. When we work with Babel or ES6-style React, we know it as any class object that extends components.
Presentational Components
The presentation component is also known as a stateless functional component that takes props and renders UI. Plain JavaScript functions that do not have states are also known as stateless functions. Presentational components are the components that receive state from the higher-order component.
UI is conditionally rendered based on state, which is provided to them as a parameter. The presentational component is mainly concerned with how things are displayed more than the management of the state.
Container Components
A container component is a type of class component that delivers data and behavior to other container components. In addition to that, the container retrieves data and then produces the relevant sub-component. Thus, container components focus on working conditions.