What Makes React JS Awesome and Why

Since its creation back in May of 2013, React JS has steadily continued to gain popularity. According to The State of Developer Ecosystem Survey from last year, React was by far the most frequently used JS framework. Two thirds of questioned developers have confirmed that they prioritize React over Angular and other JS frameworks/libraries.

In addition to netflix.com, cnn.com, paypal.com, bbc.com, amazon.co.uk, and yahoo.com, BuiltWith’s data confirms that additional 3 million websites have also been created with the help of React JS.

As you recall if you have been following our blog for more than a couple of months, we at Share IT love React JS. We already wrote a blog post about this framework in which we analyzed how it compares to its biggest competitor.

In addition to providing history and context, we also singled out the main differences between React JS and Angular and discussed how picking the right JavaScript framework is never as easy as most people think.

Even though we prefer React JS, we still recognize the value that Angular brings to the table. Like many developers out there, we found React JS to be a great fit for our preferred way of work.

In this article, we’re going to take a deeper dive into what makes React JS such a popular solution and why most software developers see it as the ultimate JS framework.

What Makes React JS Special?

React JS was primarily envisioned as a library, which means that it was intended to be used in tandem with other libraries, regardless of the other tools developers had in their stack. However, before you can say “front-end”, that only became a fraction of what React does and how people utilize this framework.

The main reason why React JS got so popular quickly has a lot to do with its ability to deal with DOM APIs. As every older developer knows, dealing with the DOM API was probably the hardest, most exhausting part of building sophisticated user interfaces. Making changes to HTML and XML documents was very difficult before this framework/library burst onto the scene.

React’s Virtual DOM was a real game changer. It allowed developers to speed up their work and gain better control by solely re-rendering nodes on a need basis. This enabled more efficient rendering and easier ways to work on ad hoc.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many more amazing things that most developers love about React JS and why it’s still super big, so let’s just start listing some of the more popular benefits of this framework/library.

Growth Potential

Even though React JS has been around since 2013, the framework/library is still widely accepted and celebrated in the software and web development industry. Last year, we saw a lot of data that supported our hunch that React still rules and that developers still prioritize it.

According to Stack Overflow’s Developer Insights Report from 2019, React is still generating a lot of interest. With 31.3%, it is the second most popular framework (second only to jQuery) to learn.

Enterprise JavaScript shared similar understanding. They ran a huge survey in 2019 where they questioned over 33,000 people with a goal of mapping industry trends and understanding the preferences of the modern javascript coders. According to their data, 63% of respondents said that React is still their go-to solution. Out of those 63%, 49% claimed that they “write code almost exclusively in React.”

Despite the growing emergence of competitors like Vue, numbers show that developers still have a rock solid reason to jump on the React bandwagon and start deeply familiarizing themselves with the React ecosystem.

React JS is a Great Solution for Both Enterprises and Startups

Practice has shown that React has benefits to offer to both startups and enterprises alike.

Since React drastically speeds up the development process, and thus directly affects time-to-market, this solution continues to receive love from the startup community. Completing software development projects within a given budget and on time is critical to both big and small companies. They both need to work within their limit to hit the market when they need to make a splash.

Startups look to ride the wave and make money before they eat themselves, while enterprise-level companies are focused on hitting the market when it’s time (for instance, a new website for BlackFriday) to make a splash.

Experienced JavaScript Developers Can Learn The Fundamentals of React in a Couple of Hours

Given its wide array of reusable components, software teams can build and maintain applications much faster with React. Simplicity comes as a cherry on top to why React’s popularity continues to grow. Many developers, like us, argue that it’s a lot simpler to learn React than Angular and Vue. At least, it’s basic concepts.

If you have at least some existing JavScript knowledge, finding your way around the React ecosystem should be a relatively easy task. When you master functional programming patterns, you are basically half way there.

There are a lot of great resources where people can learn more about React. For instance, Facebook hosts great tutorials on GitHub that skilled JavaScript developers can run through in a day and immediately start working in React.

In addition, you can find multiple great React communities online. The ones on Stack Overflow, IRC, and GitHub are most active and full of awesome and supportive members.

Regardless of what frameworks or programming language you’re looking to pick up, joining a community of experts is usually the smartest way to get support while you’re still figuring out the ropes.

Another big perk of using React is directly related to JSX syntaxes. With this framework, you have the ability to blend both JSX and javascript in a single script file or component, which is amazing on so many levels.

Also, let’s not forget the reusing components option. The ability to import the component where you want to use and reuse it right away without additional coding (like with Angular) is a perk that shouldn’t be left out.

All in all, writing code in React feels like a pleasant experience. It doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel - in fact, it tries to perfectly blend itself to JavaScript. That’s probably one of the main reasons why most developers like using React and why the job market for devs who know how to use it is constantly getting bigger.

Looking to Build in React? We Can Help

React has amazing features that make it a very versatile framework. We already mentioned some of them like component reusability and virtual DOM. React can be used for building dashboards, data visualization tools, messaging apps, enterprise software, and much more.

Are you interested in exploring the option of developing your product in React? Contact us today to receive more details. We’re excited to hear from you.