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A Look Inside the React with Michael Jackson, Devon Lindsey, Preethi Kasireddy, and Ben Ilegbodu
The React community is has been creating some amazing tools. We sat down with members of the community to hear about the tools that are working well for them and what new technologies are peaking their interest. Currently trending topics include React Fiber, React-Router and React Native. To keep up with these leading experts, you can connect with them on Twitter or follow their GitHub. Michael Jackson Discusses React-Router v4, React Native and React Fiber React-Router v4 is out and it has something for everyone in the React community. Unlike v2, and v3, the most current version splits everything up to make it more modular. This means that you can render a route anywhere you want, leading to simpler nesting, code-splitting and hot-reloading. This component based variation of React-Router will ideally resolve the need for custom code for routing in React Native and hopefully bridge a significant gap in the React and React Native communities. Michael Jackson hopes v4 will be a step toward strengthening the React community by enhancing code to make discussion between groups more transferable. In addition to React-Router, React Fiber is making waves in the React community by pushing the boundaries in addressing ways to prioritize user interaction while simultaneously allowing for asynchronous event to fire. To hear more about Michael Jackson’s work and thoughts on up and coming technologies, keep up with him at https://github.com/mjackson or @mjackson Devon Lindsey on what to look forward to in the React community Devon Lindsey speaks on the exciting ways to use React in new contexts. As an organizer for SF Bay Area React Meetup, she has unique insight into up an coming React projects like augmented reality or creative uses for Create React App. She even has an NFC implant that she is working to program using React Native to assist with everyday activities. Devon Lindsey discusses the value of the React communities’ emphasis on included and empowering diverse populations and how the effort is paying off in the development of new and interesting React tools. She also gives advice for ways to contribute to open source communities in a positive and constructive way. You can find Devon Lindsey on Twitter: @devonbl Preethi Kasireddy on Redux, MobX and the React Community Only 2 years into her career as an engineer, Preethi Kasireddy is already making a name for herself at a speaker at a number of conferences and working at her own company as a UX/UI Engineer. Preethi finds React enjoyable to work with because of its immediate feedback and interacting with a welcoming community. When she started learning React, she used React in companion to Redux but has since found best use cases for both Redux and MobX. While both help to manage state external to components, the two exist in opposite paradigms. Redux derives from flux architecture and provides one way, predictable data flow, thus it lends itself to maintainability and scalability over time. In Preethi’s opinion, this makes Redux ideal for more complex code bases and large teams. MobX, on the other hand, has a lot of abstractions that it hides under the hood. It uses observable date to store state making it ideal for simpler applications and smaller teams that might not need to rely on the predictability that Redux provides. To learn more about Preethi’s thoughts on React tools, you can follow her on Twitter @iam_preethi Ben Ilegbodu Gives Advice for Learning React and ESNext Ben Illegbodu, an Engineering Manager for Eventbrite, has been transitioning features on Eventbrite from Backbone to React. He has been very involved with ES6 from the very beginning and loves how integral it is with React. In his free time, Ben Ilegbodu likes teaching people about ES6 and how to enhance their understanding of React through ES6 methods like creating classes, arrow functions and destructuring. Ben Ilegbodu has enjoyed working with the React community is unique because of the collaborative environment and the promulgation of innovative ideas through supportive networks. If you are interested in improving your understanding of React, Ben suggests getting started by going through react tutorials and really diving into the basics before adding additional layers of complication. You can find Ben Ilegbodu on Twitter: @benmvp The React community is booming with amazing tools that are changing the fundamentals of how we code. The unique level of diversity and collaboration in the community facilitates unprecedented growth. Stay connected with This Dot Media for more news on what is happening in the community....
Oct 28, 2019
4 mins
State of React Wrap-up | April 26, 2022
In this State of React event, the main topic focused on the React 18 release. Our panelists had a lot of thoughts on the release, its latest features, and the React working group. We also got an update on the state of Redux, and heard about our panelists' experiences at the 2022 React Miami conference. Here is a complete list of the hosts and panelists that participated in the online event. Hosts - Dustin Goodman, Engineering Manager, This Dot Labs, @dustinsgoodman - Dane Grant, Senior Software Engineer, This Dot Labs, @danecando Panelists - Jen Luker, Senior Staff Frontend Engineer, Nav, Inc., @knitcodemonkey - Ben Ilegbodu, Frontend Architect, Stitch Fix, @benmvp - Romello Goodman, Educator at MICA & Senior Engineer, Shopify, @mellogood - Kathleen McMahon, Senior Design Systems Engineer, Northwestern Mutual, @resource11 - Chantastic, DX Engineer, Chromatic, @chantastic - Mark Erikson, Senior Front-End Engineer, Replay, @acemarke You can watch the full State of React event on the This Dot Media YouTube Channel. React 18 is finally here!!! The conversation got started with the panelists sharing their thoughts on the latest release and why they felt like it was a little bit anti-climatic. After years of hard work and anticipation, the final release didn't generate as much noise in the community as previous versions of React. Some of the panelists believe that a lot of the blog posts and conversations about the latest changes happened months ago. This might have contributed to a quiet release this time around. There was also praise for the React 18 working group which did a great job of communicating with the community over the years about progress of the new version. They also tried to incorporate a lot of the community feedback into this latest release. The hard work and care of the React 18 working group also contributed to the quiet and stable release of this latest version. Does the anti-climatic release of React 18 signal that people are tired of React? There was a question posed to the group that maybe people were tired of React and that is why it was anti-climatic. But the panelists believe that this quiet release means that React is becoming more of a standard in the JavaScript ecosystem. They also brought up the good point that a lot of developers have already been working with some of the new features before the official release date. What do the panelists think about the new features of React 18? One of the panelists expressed interest in trying out the new useTransition hook which allows you to specify some states as a lower priority. But they also made the point that there wasn't an immediate need in their current projects to incorporate some of the newer features. Sometimes you are comfortable working in your codebase and it is fine to use the existing hooks that are already there. It might become a situation where new developers learning React for the first time will push for the use of these new features. This led to conversation about how React 18 helped solve a lot of problems that library authors were experiencing. For example, the new concurrent suspense and transition APIs will make it easier for loader indicators. But there was another hook mentioned that peaked the interest of some of the panelists. The useId hook generates a unique random ID that is consistent in server side and client side rendering. The panelists were excited about how easy it was to use and how it would improve on accessibility. They were also grateful that the name was changed from useOpaqueIdentifier to useId. Will the React working group continue? There are no current plans for the React working group, and it has been relatively quiet since the release. But the panelists do believe that this group set the tone for future major releases. As mentioned earlier, the React working group did a great job working with the community and creating a smooth transition from React 17 to React 18. What are some of the new features that developers need to learn before migrating to React 18? The first feature that was mentioned was the new root API. In React 17, this is how you would render your App component. ` But with React 18, you would use the new createRoot API. ` Another feature that was mentioned was flushSync which allows you to opt out of automatic batching. The State of Redux with Mark Erikson At this point of the conversation, we transitioned into a short powerpoint presentation on the state of Redux. Here are the key points mentioned in that presentation. - React-Redux v8.0 is now live. - Redux JS/TS templates for Create React App have been updated. - This new version works with React 16.8, 17, 18 and React Native - React-Redux v8.0 has been converted to TypeScript - Redux Toolkit 1.8 has a new "listener" side effects middleware which allows you to do powerful async/await workflows. - Redux 4.2.0 has officially marked createStore as deprecated Should people start migrating over to React 18 now or is there a waiting period? During this part of the conversation panelists talked about what is supported by React 18. For example, if your application uses Enzyme for testing, then it will not be supported by React 18. This would require you to rewrite all of your tests just to accommodate this latest version. Developers need to understand what is supported by this new version before migrating over. The panelists also pointed out that it will take a few months of the community working with React 18 before potential issues come to light. What was React Miami like? What was it like to have in person conferences again? I think Mark Erikson had the best quote to sum up the 2022 React Miami conference. "Warm, fun, awesome, tiring, weird" Well, that works for me. :) But in all seriousness, both Ben and Kathleen gave talks and enjoyed their time at the conference. The general consensus was that it was nice to connect with the community again in person, even if it was weird at times. Are there any new exciting courses or articles coming out for React 18? There was a lot of a great discussions in the React working group GitHub repository. A lot of authors were able to create great blog posts out of those discussions. There was also a quick shout out to Dustin and Dane for their involvement with the new React beta site. You can learn more about that in this Meta case study. The downside of React being unopinionated Mark brought up the issue he has seen with React developers not knowing what to use for styling, state management and build tools. Since React is unopinionated, there should be a place where developers can learn about the common technologies that work well with React. Luckily for us, This Dot Labs has created a tool to tackle this issue. react.framework.dev is a community driven list of resources for React. Accessibility matters In the closing conversation, there was a lot of discussion on how the new Rect 18 features will improve on accessibility. The panelists also felt like all developers should care more about creating well built accessible applications and take the time to learn about best accessibility practices. Conclusion This was an incredible conversation with a great group of panelists and I would highly suggest you watch the video. You can watch the full State of React event on the This Dot Media YouTube Channel....
May 3, 2022
6 mins