React App is a popular tool for building user interfaces (UIs) on the web. If you’re new to web development or just starting to learn about React, you may be wondering what React App is and how it can help you create better user experiences. In this article, we’ll break down what React App is, its benefits, and how you can get started using it.

Table Of Contents

What is React App?

React App is a JavaScript library that helps you build reusable UI components. It was created by Facebook and is now maintained by a large community of developers.

React App allows you to create UIs that are reactive, meaning that they respond to user input and change dynamically. This makes it a popular choice for building complex web applications.

Benefits of Using React App

One of the main benefits of using React App is that it helps you build scalable and reusable UI components. This means that you can create UI elements once and reuse them throughout your application. This can save you time and reduce the amount of code you need to write.

Another benefit of using React App is that it makes it easier to manage complex UIs. Because React App components are independent, it’s easier to update and maintain them. This can be especially helpful when working on large web applications with many different components.

How React Works?

When you create a React component, you define its behavior by writing code that describes how it should render based on its current state and any incoming data or props. The component’s state is managed by React, and any changes to it trigger a re-rendering of the component and its child components.

One of the key features of React is its virtual DOM (Document Object Model). The virtual DOM is a lightweight representation of the actual DOM, and it allows React to efficiently update the UI without directly manipulating the DOM. When you update the state of a React component, React will compare the new virtual DOM with the previous one and only update the parts of the actual DOM that have changed. This makes React faster and more efficient than other approaches to UI development.

React also provides a unidirectional data flow, meaning that data can only flow in one direction, from parent components down to child components. This makes it easier to manage and debug your application, as you always know where the data is coming from and where it is going.

Another key concept in React is the use of JSX (JavaScript XML), which allows you to write HTML-like syntax directly in your JavaScript code. JSX is not required to use React, but it makes it easier to create and manage complex UIs.

Write Your First App with React

To begin, it is necessary to install a recent version of node.js on your computer. To install it, execute the command below. However, ensure that node.js is already installed before proceeding.

npx create-react-app [react folder name]

After executing the aforementioned command, you will need to wait for a moment while the folder is being downloaded.

Install React

If you take a look at this image, you will be able to see the packages that will be installed in the node modules folder:

  • React
  • React DOM
  • React Scripts
  • with many other 209 packages.

And there are some commands that you can use to run your React app.

Upon opening the project folder, you will come across two files, namely package-lock and package.json, along with three other folders, as listed below:

  • The “node_modules” folder.
  • The “src” folder contains jsx, CSS, and so many others
  • the “public” folder displays the compiled file in the public access.

All of these files pertain to webpack, which enables you to compile JavaScript, CSS, and other files into the public folder.

It’s not necessary to delve into the contents of these files at the moment, as we will explain their respective functions in the following tutorial. For now, our focus is on how to create your first React app.

Anyway, before getting started, you have to learn more about Node NPM.

Let’s start the React application with the following command.

npm run start

Once you run this React app through the previous NPM command, it will open the browser with this URL http://localhost:3000/.

React on Localhost

Wrapping Up

In conclusion, React.js provides developers with a powerful set of features for building fast, efficient, and dynamic web applications. Its virtual DOM, component-based architecture, unidirectional data flow, JSX syntax, server-side rendering. And React Native mobile development framework make it a popular choice among developers for building modern web applications.