Writing code for reactive UI is a difficult task, as writing code to manipulate the DOM using JavaScript whenever the application state changes is difficult and it makes understanding the application difficult. Therefore, the MVC architecture was introduced, where we define the UI and application state separately, and the UI is updated automatically as the application state changes. MVC framework views have been concentrating on making the writing of code for reactive UIs easier but not increasing rendering performance, reusability, and ease of debugging. This is what React aims to solve. It not only makes writing code for reactive UI easier but also takes care of rendering performance, reusability, and ease of debugging.
In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:
What React is
Virtual DOM technology
Component-based UI development using React
One-way dataflow programming
Using JSX to write React code
Using React on the server side to build...