The React Beginner‘s Guide for 2022

React has taken the web development world by storm since its initial release by Facebook in 2013. This JavaScript library has made it easier than ever to create dynamic, interactive user interfaces for web applications. Its component-based architecture encourages code reuse and lets you break down even complex UIs into small, manageable pieces.

If you‘re looking to learn React in 2022 and build your own web apps, you‘ve come to the right place. In this beginner‘s guide, I‘ll cover everything you need to know to start your React journey, including:

• What tools and prerequisites you need to develop with React
• How to create your first React project
• The core concepts and features you should learn first
• Useful libraries that are commonly used with React
• How to deploy your React apps and get them live on the web
• Resources for mastering React and continuing your learning journey

Let‘s jump right in and start building with React!

React Prerequisites and Developer Tools

Before you can start developing React applications, there are a few essential tools you‘ll need:

1. Node.js and npm: React relies on Node.js, a JavaScript runtime that lets you run JavaScript code outside of a web browser. Installing Node also installs npm, a package manager that makes it easy to add libraries to your projects. I recommend installing the LTS (long-term support) version of Node from the official Node.js website.
2. A code editor: To write your React code, you‘ll want a good programming text editor. I‘m a big fan of Visual Studio Code, a free, open-source editor from Microsoft. VS Code has great support for JavaScript and JSX (React‘s HTML-like syntax) out of the box. It also has an extensive library of extensions for React development.
3. Git and GitHub: To save your code and collaborate with other developers, you‘ll want to use a version control system like Git. GitHub provides free Git repositories where you can back up your React projects in the cloud. Install Git from the official website, then create a free GitHub account.

Once you have these basic prerequisites in place, you‘re ready to create your first React project!

Creating a New React Project

While you can set up a React project manually, there‘s no need to configure everything from scratch. There are several great tools that can generate a working React project for you with a single command:

• Create React App is an officially supported way to create single-page React applications. It offers a modern build setup with no configuration. To create a project, run:

  npx create-react-app my-app

• Vite is a newer, lightweight tool for scaffolding React projects. It uses the fast Rollup bundler and a pre-configured development server to provide a leaner alternative to Create React App. To create a project with Vite, run:

  npm create vite@latest my-app -- --template react

• Next.js is a popular React framework for building server-rendered applications. It includes features like automatic code splitting, simple page-based routing, and built-in CSS support. Use Create Next App to bootstrap a new project:

  npx create-next-app@latest my-app

All of these tools will generate a working React project complete with a package.json file, source code, and build scripts. To start the development server and view your app, run:


cd my-app
npm start


You should then be able to view your React application at http://localhost:3000. As you edit your React components, the page will automatically reload.

If you just want to experiment and try out small examples, an online code sandbox like CodeSandbox or StackBlitz is a great option. You can create a React sandbox and start coding directly in your browser without installing anything.

Core React Concepts for Beginners

Now that you have a working React project, what should you learn first? While React is a large library with many advanced features, I believe every React developer should have a solid grasp of these core concepts:

• JSX: JSX is React‘s HTML-like syntax for defining component templates. It lets you intermix JavaScript expressions and HTML markup. Here‘s an example:

  <h1>Hello, {name}!</h1>

  Expressions wrapped in single curly braces will be evaluated and inserted into the rendered HTML.

• Components: Components are the building blocks of React applications. They are JavaScript functions that return reusable pieces of JSX. Here‘s an example of a simple functional component:

  
function Greeting(props) {
return <h1>Hello, {props.name}!</h1>;
}


  Components can import and render other components, allowing you to compose complex UIs from reusable pieces.

• Props: Props are inputs that are passed to a component. They let a parent component send data to its children. In the Greeting component above, name is a prop.

  To render a component with props, pass the values as attributes when rendering it:

  <Greeting name="John" />

• State: While props are passed in from a parent component, state is data that‘s local to a component. When state changes, React re-renders the component automatically.

  Here‘s an example of using state to track a count value:

  
import { useState } from ‘react‘;

  function Counter() {
  const [count, setCount] = useState(0);

  return (
    <div>  
      <p>Count: {count}</p>
      <button onClick={() => setCount(count + 1)}>
        Increment
      </button>
    </div>
  );  

  }


• Lifecycle: Each React component has a lifecycle with methods that run at particular times. The most commonly used lifecycle methods are:
  • componentDidMount(): Runs after the component mounts
  • componentDidUpdate(): Runs after every render, except the first
  • componentWillUnmount(): Runs before the component unmounts

  These lifecycle methods are often used to fetch data, set up subscriptions, and perform side effects.

  Note: React has largely moved to using hooks like useEffect instead of lifecycle methods in function components. But it‘s still helpful to understand the lifecycle conceptually.

• Hooks: Hooks are functions that let you "hook into" React state and lifecycle features from function components. The most commonly used hooks are:
  • useState: Lets you add state to function components
  • useEffect: Runs side effects, like data fetching or subscriptions
  • useContext: Lets you read data from React context
  • useRef: Stores mutable values that persist across re-renders

  Hooks are a powerful addition to React that make it possible to use state and other React features without writing class components.

I believe focusing your initial learning on these core concepts will give you the foundation you need to build real-world React applications. There are many other APIs and features in React, but don‘t feel like you need to learn them all at once. Start with the basics, then learn the rest as you need them.

Useful Libraries and Tools

The React ecosystem includes a wide variety of community libraries and tools to help you build applications faster. Here are a few that I think are particularly useful for beginners:

• React Redux: Redux is a popular library for managing global application state. React Redux provides bindings to let React components read data from a Redux store and dispatch actions.
• React Router: If you‘re building a single-page application, you‘ll need a routing solution to map URLs to components. React Router is the most popular library for declarative routing in React.
• Axios: Most applications need to fetch data from APIs or make HTTP requests. Axios is a promise-based HTTP client that works well with React for data fetching.
• Styled Components: Styled Components lets you write CSS directly in your component files. It makes it easy to add styles to your components without switching context between HTML and CSS.
• React Testing Library: Testing is an important part of React development. React Testing Library provides a set of utility functions to help you write maintainable tests for your components.

There are literally thousands of React libraries out there. My advice is to start simple and only add libraries as you need them. Resist the urge to add everything to your project from the beginning. As you gain more experience with React, you‘ll learn which libraries work best for your particular use cases.

Deploying Your React Apps

Once you‘ve built an application with React, the next step is to deploy it so users can access it on the web. Fortunately, there are many great options for deploying React apps:

• Netlify is a popular hosting platform that makes it easy to deploy React apps. It offers continuous deployment, HTTPS, and a global CDN. Netlify has a generous free tier for small projects.
• Vercel is another great platform for deploying React apps. It‘s built by the creators of Next.js and provides an optimal workflow for deploying Next.js applications. Like Netlify, it offers a free tier for hobby projects.
• Cloudflare Pages is a newer offering from the popular CDN provider. It offers fast build times, automatic branch deploys, and unlimited bandwidth on its free plan.

All of these platforms integrate with Git repositories like GitHub. You can configure them to automatically deploy your React app whenever you push changes. This makes it incredibly easy to get your app live and iterate quickly.

For small React projects without a backend, you can even deploy to static site hosts like GitHub Pages or Surge. These work well for deploying apps built with Create React App or Vite.

Learning and Mastering React

Learning React can feel overwhelming, but remember that everyone starts as a beginner. The key is to break things down and learn piece by piece. Start with the basics, then work on slowly expanding your skills.

If you‘re looking for hands-on practice, freeCodeCamp has a comprehensive React curriculum with interactive coding challenges. It covers everything from "Hello World" to using APIs and Redux with React.

As you start building your own projects, don‘t be afraid to consult documentation, Google for examples, and learn from other developers‘ code. You‘ll often find that others have solved similar problems before.

Finally, the React community is large and welcoming. Don‘t hesitate to ask for help or guidance when you need it. Sites like Stack Overflow and the Reactiflux Discord are great places to get assistance from experienced React developers.

Learning React takes time and practice, but it‘s an incredibly rewarding skill to have. Whether you‘re looking to build dynamic web applications, create reusable UI components, or just expand your JavaScript toolkit, React is a great choice. I hope this guide has given you the foundation you need to start your React journey. Now go out there and start building!