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React Key Concepts

React Key Concepts

By : Maximilian Schwarzmüller
4.8 (4)
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React Key Concepts

React Key Concepts

4.8 (4)
By: Maximilian Schwarzmüller

Overview of this book

Maximilian Schwarzmüller is a bestselling instructor who has helped more than three million students worldwide learn how to code. His bestselling React video course, “React – The Complete Guide”, has over eight hundred thousand students on Udemy. Max has written this quick-start reference that distills the core concepts of React. Simple explanations, relevant examples, and step-by-step derivations make this guide the ideal resource for busy developers. In this second edition, Max guides you through changes brought by React 19, including the new use() hook, form actions, and how to think about React on the server. This book will support you through your next React projects in giving you a behind-the-scenes understanding of the framework – whether you've just finished Max's video course and are looking for a handy reference, or you’re using a variety of other learning materials and need a single study guide to bring everything together. You’ll find full solutions to all end-of-chapter quizzes and exercises in the book’s GitHub repository.
Table of Contents (14 chapters)
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1
React Key Concepts, Second Edition: An in-depth guide to React’s core features
React Key Concepts, Second Edition: An in-depth guide to React’s core features
2
React – What and Why
Before you begin: Join our book community on Discord
Introduction
What Is React?
The Problem with "Vanilla JavaScript"
React and Declarative Code
Introducing Single Page Applications
Summary and Key Takeaways
3
Understanding React Components and JSX
Before you begin: Join our book community on Discord
Introduction
What Are Components?
What Does React Do with All These Components?
JSX vs HTML vs Vanilla JavaScript
Moving Beyond Static Content
When Should You Split Components?
Summary and Key Takeaways
Apply What You Learned
4
Components and Props
Before you begin: Join our book community on Discord
Introduction
Not There Yet
Using Props in Components
Components, Props, and Reusability
How to Deal with Multiple Props
Summary and Key Takeaways
Apply What You Learned
5
Working with Events and State
Before you begin: Join our book community on Discord
Introduction
What's the Problem?
Updating State Correctly
A Look under the Hood of React
Working with Multiple State Values
Deriving Values from State
Summary and Key Takeaways
Apply What You Learned
6
Rendering Lists and Conditional Content
Before you begin: Join our book community on Discord
Introduction
What Are Conditional Content and List Data?
Rendering Content Conditionally
Outputting List Data
A Problem with List Items
Summary and Key Takeaways
Apply What You Learned
7
Styling React Apps
Before you begin: Join our book community on Discord
Introduction
How Does Styling Work in React Apps?
Scoped Styles with CSS Modules
Summary and Key Takeaways
Apply What You Learned
8
Portals and Refs
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Before you begin: Join our book community on Discord
Introduction
A World without Refs
Refs versus State
Using Refs for More than DOM Access
React and Where Things End up in the DOM
Summary and Key Takeaways
Apply What You Have Learned
9
Handling Side Effects
Before you begin: Join our book community on Discord
Introduction
What's the Problem?
Understanding Side Effects
Dealing with Side Effects with the useEffect() Hook
Effects and Their Dependencies
Summary and Key Takeaways
Apply What You Learned
10
Behind the Scenes of React and Optimization Opportunities
Before you begin: Join our book community on Discord
Introduction
Revisiting Component Evaluations and Updates
The Virtual DOM vs the Real DOM
Avoiding Unnecessary Code Download
Strict Mode
Debugging Code and the React Developer Tools
Summary and Key Takeaways
Apply What You Learned
11
Working with Complex State
Before you begin: Join our book community on Discord
Introduction
A Problem with Cross-Component State
Using Context to Handle Multi-Component State
Limitations of useState( )
Managing State with useReducer( )
Summary and Key Takeaways
Apply What You Learned
12
Building Custom React Hooks
Before you begin: Join our book community on Discord
Introduction
Why Would You Build Custom Hooks?
Custom Hooks: A Flexible Feature
A More Complex Example
Summary and Key Takeaways
Apply What You Learned
13
Multipage Apps with React Router
Before you begin: Join our book community on Discord
Introduction
One Page Is Not Enough
Getting Started with React Router and Defining Routes
From Static to Dynamic Routes
Redirecting
Summary and Key Takeaways
Apply What You Learned
14
Managing Data with React Router
Before you begin: Join our book community on Discord
Introduction
Data Fetching and Routing Are Tightly Coupled
Loading Data with React Router
Getting Access to Loaded Data
Layouts Revisited
Handling Errors
Onward to Data Submission
Summary and Key Takeaways
Apply What You Learned

Refs versus State

Since refs can be used to get quick and easy access to DOM elements, the question that might come up is whether you should always use refs instead of state.

The clear answer to this question is "no".

Refs can be a very good alternative in use cases like the one shown above, when you need read access to an element. This is very often the case when dealing with user input. In general, refs can replace state if you're just accessing some value to read it when some function (a form submit handler function, for example) is executed. As soon as you need to change values and those changes must be reflected in the UI (for example, by rendering some conditional content), refs are out of the game.

In the example above, if, besides getting the entered value, you'd also like to reset (i.e., clear) the email input after the form was submitted, you should use state again. While you could reset the input with the help of a ref, you should not do that. You would...

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