Now that we've introduced you to the basics of programming in React, it's time to dig into some of the underlying tools and technologies that make React Native work. This will provide valuable context as you progress through the remainder of this book. We'll also touch on some of the more popular mobile development alternatives to React Native. This will help you understand where React Native fits into the broader mobile development ecosystem and better inform your decision-making as to which technology best suites your mobile requirements.
Once we've completed setting context, we'll switch gears and focus on configuring your computer for running and debugging your very first React Native application using the iOS Simulator. Since our immediate goal is to get you up and running quickly, we'll only focus on configuring your environment for iOS. Chapter 9, Refactoring for Android, is entirely dedicated to configuring your computer for Android development...