React is a JavaScript library for creating user interfaces, but what does “JavaScript library” really
mean? A JavaScript library is a set of pre-written codes in JavaScript that makes building great web
applications easier and faster. Before fully diving into React, you need to have a basic understanding of
JavaScript. The most basic JavaScript concepts you should be familiar with are variables, data types,
conditionals, arrays, functions, callbacks, and ES Modules. If one or two of the above concepts look
new, don’t worry; they are relatively simple, and you’ll understand them while following the course.
Why Should I learn React when I can build a website using HTML, CSS and JavaScript ?
This question is one of the most frequently asked questions for new React developers. You need to
learn React for the following reasons:
• React is fast and lightweight.
• React saves time while developing because of its code re-usability and the fact that it is
component driven.
• Many big companies use React, such as Facebook, Instagram, Netflix, Uber, Walmart, etc. They
React is a JavaScript library for creating user interfaces, but what does “JavaScript library” really
mean? A JavaScript library is a set of pre-written codes in JavaScript that makes building great web
applications easier and faster. Before fully diving into React, you need to have a basic understanding of
JavaScript. The most basic JavaScript concepts you should be familiar with are variables, data types,
conditionals, arrays, functions, callbacks, and ES Modules. If one or two of the above concepts look
new, don’t worry; they are relatively simple, and you’ll understand them while following the course.
Why Should I learn React when I can build a website using HTML, CSS and JavaScript ?
This question is one of the most frequently asked questions for new React developers. You need to
learn React for the following reasons:
• React is fast and lightweight.
• React saves time while developing because of its code re-usability and the fact that it is
component driven.
• Many big companies use React, such as Facebook, Instagram, Netflix, Uber, Walmart, etc. They
React is a JavaScript library for creating user interfaces, but what does “JavaScript library” really
mean? A JavaScript library is a set of pre-written codes in JavaScript that makes building great web
applications easier and faster. Before fully diving into React, you need to have a basic understanding of
JavaScript. The most basic JavaScript concepts you should be familiar with are variables, data types,
conditionals, arrays, functions, callbacks, and ES Modules. If one or two of the above concepts look
new, don’t worry; they are relatively simple, and you’ll understand them while following the course.
Why Should I learn React when I can build a website using HTML, CSS and JavaScript ?
This question is one of the most frequently asked questions for new React developers. You need to
learn React for the following reasons:
• React is fast and lightweight.
• React saves time while developing because of its code re-usability and the fact that it is
component driven.
• Many big companies use React, such as Facebook, Instagram, Netflix, Uber, Walmart, etc. They
might want you on their team to work on existing or new projects.
HOW TO CREATE REACT APPS
Before you can create React apps, you need to have a code editor installed, such as VSCode or Sublime
Text, and then proceed to download Node from https://nodejs.org/en/download/current. You can check
if Node is installed on your computer by writing the following command in your terminal or
PowerShell: node -v. However, there are different ways to install React, but I recommend using the
officially recommended tool called create-react-app. Since create-react-app is a command-line
application, you only need to write this code below in your command line/terminal:
• npx create-react-app <app name>. The app name can be any name you would like
to call the application. For example, npx create-react-app netflix means the name
of my app is “Netflix.” npx, on the other hand, is a cool package installer for Node.js-based
applications; it will always download the most recent create-react-app release and run
it.
After installing React, you will have a folder with the name of your app as the name of the folder.
The picture above is a typical react app folder structure with the name of the app being “MY-REACT
APP”, only the app name will be different depending on the project name but the rest of the folder
structure will remain the same.