React JS: The most powerful JavaScript library ever
Today, we use JavaScript pretty much in every mobile and web application. For the seventh year in a row, we can see it ranking as the most famous and broadly used programming language with around a community of 67.8% of developers in 2019. This is the only programming language that is used to build 95.2% (1.52 billion) websites today, including Facebook and YouTube and some of the most popular and useful apps such as Google Maps and eBay.
The journey of JavaScript started in the late 90s when Netscape Navigator, a popular browser was launched by Netscape Communication. Those were the earliest days of web development services, in the beginning days of Netscape, it was just a software which was able to perform static HTML, but people desired it to do more. Web sites, according to Netscape, should be more dynamic in character.
They realised that if consumers can't interact with HTML, browsers will end up converting cumbersome programmes.
That’s when Brendan Eich came into the frame. He was hired in 1995 by Netscape Communications to build a language which would have a low learning curve so that anyone would be capable of writing functionalities with it. He created the language in just 10 days and named it Mocha. In May 1995, a workable prototype of Mocha was coupled with the Netscape Browser, renaming the language LiveScript, and then renaming it again in December 1995, this time as JavaScript.
Because Java was so well-known at the time, Netscape's marketing team opted to brand it "JavaScript." With Netscape Navigator's notoriety, Microsoft aspired to dominate the browser market and created Internet Explorer, which included a scripting language called JScript. For a long time, there was no universal standard developed for JavaScript, ending in huge cross-browser adaptability issues. Finally, in 1997, Netscape called ECMA (European Computer Manufacturing Association) to take the duty of forming a specification for JavaScript.
Since then, the ECMA has published modernised specifications for JavaScript regularly and browsers try to follow these specifications in their implementation of the JavaScript engine.
What is React JS?
React JS is an open-source JavaScript library that is used for building robust and scalable user interfaces specifically for single-page applications. It is used for building web and mobile applications. Also, it allows for creating reusable UI components.
Created by Jordan Walke 2011, a software engineer on Facebook, React JS allows users to create large web applications that can change data, without reloading the page. It builds fast, simple, and scalable applications. It runs only on user interfaces in the application. This matches the view in the MVC template. It can be used with a combination of other JavaScript libraries or frameworks like AngularJS in MVC. If you are confused about choosing a JavaScript library for a single page web app development, outsource React JS development services and see your business grow in days.
Why choose React JS?
Before we conclude that React JS is the most powerful JavaScript library, let’s look at the prominent reasons for choosing it over other JavaScript libraries.
1. Declarative- In React JS, you describe what to render which means that the amount of boilerplate id greatly reduced. When you work with this library, you simply start coding as it has no component boilerplate that you have to generate. There is some pre-built configuration, but the components can be expressed as pure functions.
2. Clear Syntax- JSX in React feels and works just like HTML, there’s no specific syntax to learn:
const Greetings = ({ firstName }) => (
<div>Hi, {firstName}</div>
3. Virtual DOM- It is the React JS that has made the term, virtual DOM or 'VDOM' very popular in the JavaScript ecosystem. Web browsers have implemented APIs to communicate with DOM to make our web page dynamic. The benefit of React JS is that it relieves the developer of the burden of determining which parts of the DOM require modifications; the diffing and reconciliation process takes care of that.
4. Easy to learn- The best thing about this JavaScript library is that it is extremely easy to learn. Anyone with a prior basic knowledge in programming can understand React JS. All you need is a basic understanding of CSS and HTML.
5. Data Binding- React JS implements one-way data binding and an application architecture known as Flux controls the flow of data to components via one control point – the dispatcher. Debugging self-contained components of huge ReactJS projects is easier and straightforward.
Wrapping Up
There is no ideal solution to all the hurdles in web and mobile app development practices insight so the best option is to move forward with whatever is available at the moment. Same is in the JavaScript community as well, there is an effort to figure out an alternative to ReactJS such as VueJS and Svelte.
There is no denying that ReactJS will get replaced by some other library in the future. The core concept of producing smaller, reusable components, on the other hand, is here to stay. There are a plethora of React JS web development businesses ready to serve you.