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Learning React: Modern Patterns for Developing React Apps
If you want to learn how to build efficient React applications, this is your book. Ideal for web developers and software engineers who understand how JavaScript, CSS, and HTML work in the browser, this updated edition provides best practices and patterns for writing modern React code. No prior knowledge of React or functional JavaScript is necessary.
With their learning road map, authors Alex Banks and Eve Porcello show you how to create UIs that can deftly display changes without page reloads on large-scale, data-driven websites. You'll also discover how to work with functional programming and the latest ECMAScript features. Once you learn how to build React components with this hands-on guide, you'll understand just how useful React can be in your organization.
Understand key functional programming concepts with JavaScriptLook under the hood to learn how React runs in the browserCreate application presentation layers with React componentsManage data and reduce the time you spend debugging applicationsIncorporate React Hooks to manage state and fetch dataUse a routing solution for single-page application featuresLearn how to structure React applications with servers in mind
With their learning road map, authors Alex Banks and Eve Porcello show you how to create UIs that can deftly display changes without page reloads on large-scale, data-driven websites. You'll also discover how to work with functional programming and the latest ECMAScript features. Once you learn how to build React components with this hands-on guide, you'll understand just how useful React can be in your organization.
Understand key functional programming concepts with JavaScriptLook under the hood to learn how React runs in the browserCreate application presentation layers with React componentsManage data and reduce the time you spend debugging applicationsIncorporate React Hooks to manage state and fetch dataUse a routing solution for single-page application featuresLearn how to structure React applications with servers in mind
312 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2017
286 people are currently reading
743 people want to read
About the author
Alex Banks
17 books15 followersAlex Banks likes to say she holds a black belt in awesome since the only kind of kicking-butt she does is on paper. She lives in Utah with her kickin' husband, two sparring sons, one ninja cat, one samurai dog and four zen turtles.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
March 31, 2022
Don't misunderstand me (it's appalling how often people seem to misunderstand me), this is an excellent introduction to the React framework. I could go on for hours about . Really, I know I should give you the details on , but instead I'm very unfairly going to present
Celebrity Death Match Special: string theory versus web frameworks
Quantum mechanics was one of the most extraordinary breakthroughs in the history of science; among other things this made possible the atomic bomb, which quickly proved its worth by ending WW II in a few days. Physicists became important and influential people, and were showered with money and prestige. Some of them were satisfied to continue with mainstream work in nuclear theory, semiconductors, stellar nucleosynthesis, and a host of related disciplines that quantum mechanics had brought into being. But others felt that these occupations, once miraculous, were now rather mundane. They wanted to investigate new frameworks which broadened and deepened quantum mechanics: the most successful of them became known as string theory. It was, unfortunately, very difficult to find criteria for determining whether specific versions of string theory had any objective merits, but its practitioners, who included some of the most brilliant scientists in the world, were not discouraged. Many people used their tools, and the ideas were generally agreed to be extraordinarily attractive. Problems were encountered, but they could always be fixed by creating yet another version. When so many people were writing papers based on string theory, could it be wrong? One of the most significant developments was the effect on the notion of "reality", which followed from subtle mathematical properties of the formalism. It was no longer so clear what "reality" was; but philosophers generally thought this made string theory even more interesting.
Web Frameworks
The internet was one of the more influential breakthroughs in the history of technology; among other things this made possible the World Wide Web, which quickly proved its worth as a mechanism for distributing porn. Web developers became important and influential people, and were showered with money and prestige. Some of them were satisfied to continue with mainstream work in e-commerce, social networks, video conferencing and a host of related fields that the Web had brought into being. But others felt that these occupations, once miraculous, were now rather mundane. They wanted to investigate new software paradigms which broadened and deepened the way in which web development was carried out: the most successful of them became known as web frameworks. It was, unfortunately, very difficult to find criteria for determining whether specific web frameworks had any objective merits, but their practitioners, who included some of the most followed geeks in the world, were not discouraged. Many people used their tools, and the ideas were generally agreed to be extraordinarily attractive. Problems were encountered, but they could always be fixed by creating yet another release. When so many people were implementing apps based on web frameworks, could they be wrong? One of the most significant developments was the effect on the notion of "reality", which followed from the ease with which bare-faced lies could be disseminated online. It was no longer so clear what "reality" was; but politicians generally thought this made web frameworks even more interesting.
Match point: Dialectical materialism
Celebrity Death Match Special: string theory versus web frameworks
"Hegel remarks somewhere that all great, world-historical facts and personages occur, as it were, twice. He has forgotten to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce."String Theory
- Karl Marx
Quantum mechanics was one of the most extraordinary breakthroughs in the history of science; among other things this made possible the atomic bomb, which quickly proved its worth by ending WW II in a few days. Physicists became important and influential people, and were showered with money and prestige. Some of them were satisfied to continue with mainstream work in nuclear theory, semiconductors, stellar nucleosynthesis, and a host of related disciplines that quantum mechanics had brought into being. But others felt that these occupations, once miraculous, were now rather mundane. They wanted to investigate new frameworks which broadened and deepened quantum mechanics: the most successful of them became known as string theory. It was, unfortunately, very difficult to find criteria for determining whether specific versions of string theory had any objective merits, but its practitioners, who included some of the most brilliant scientists in the world, were not discouraged. Many people used their tools, and the ideas were generally agreed to be extraordinarily attractive. Problems were encountered, but they could always be fixed by creating yet another version. When so many people were writing papers based on string theory, could it be wrong? One of the most significant developments was the effect on the notion of "reality", which followed from subtle mathematical properties of the formalism. It was no longer so clear what "reality" was; but philosophers generally thought this made string theory even more interesting.
Web Frameworks
The internet was one of the more influential breakthroughs in the history of technology; among other things this made possible the World Wide Web, which quickly proved its worth as a mechanism for distributing porn. Web developers became important and influential people, and were showered with money and prestige. Some of them were satisfied to continue with mainstream work in e-commerce, social networks, video conferencing and a host of related fields that the Web had brought into being. But others felt that these occupations, once miraculous, were now rather mundane. They wanted to investigate new software paradigms which broadened and deepened the way in which web development was carried out: the most successful of them became known as web frameworks. It was, unfortunately, very difficult to find criteria for determining whether specific web frameworks had any objective merits, but their practitioners, who included some of the most followed geeks in the world, were not discouraged. Many people used their tools, and the ideas were generally agreed to be extraordinarily attractive. Problems were encountered, but they could always be fixed by creating yet another release. When so many people were implementing apps based on web frameworks, could they be wrong? One of the most significant developments was the effect on the notion of "reality", which followed from the ease with which bare-faced lies could be disseminated online. It was no longer so clear what "reality" was; but politicians generally thought this made web frameworks even more interesting.
Match point: Dialectical materialism
March 26, 2021
I have only recently started with this book, and have just come to the end of chapter 4. So far, so bad. Much of the code has been shown in the book as snippets taken entirely out of context, e.g. giving the code to create a React element but without assigning it to a variable or displaying it on the screen, such that the reader has to do a lot of fumbling around and looking at other resources to actually get the newly created element to display on their screen.
The introduction does clearly state that the code files are also available on GitHub. This has, for me, proven to be utterly essential to be able to make sense of the book, but there is, again, quite a bit of guess-work and trial-and-error going on to figure out which files on GitHub relate to which bits of the book.
Finally, some of the book is just plain WRONG. For example, at the start of chapter 4 we are given the 'minimum requirements' for setting up an HTML document with React. It includes a div element of class 'react-container'. If you use this initial setup with code from a few pages later which should, in theory, create a React element and then render it, it won't work. The div element needs to have id='react-container', not class='...'.
Towards the end of chapter 4 we learn about factories. The book doesn't mention the existence a new file from unpkg.com which is now required. I had to figure that one out for myself by seeing that what the book told me to do didn't work, rummage on GitHub for their version of the code, and painstakingly compare files line by line to find out what was different.
A training manual is supposed to make the reader do some work, I have no objection to that. It is not supposed to make the reader guess which bits are right and which are wrong, and then figure out how to fix the book's errors and omissions.
The introduction does clearly state that the code files are also available on GitHub. This has, for me, proven to be utterly essential to be able to make sense of the book, but there is, again, quite a bit of guess-work and trial-and-error going on to figure out which files on GitHub relate to which bits of the book.
Finally, some of the book is just plain WRONG. For example, at the start of chapter 4 we are given the 'minimum requirements' for setting up an HTML document with React. It includes a div element of class 'react-container'. If you use this initial setup with code from a few pages later which should, in theory, create a React element and then render it, it won't work. The div element needs to have id='react-container', not class='...'.
Towards the end of chapter 4 we learn about factories. The book doesn't mention the existence a new file from unpkg.com which is now required. I had to figure that one out for myself by seeing that what the book told me to do didn't work, rummage on GitHub for their version of the code, and painstakingly compare files line by line to find out what was different.
A training manual is supposed to make the reader do some work, I have no objection to that. It is not supposed to make the reader guess which bits are right and which are wrong, and then figure out how to fix the book's errors and omissions.
October 7, 2018
Really comprehensive React course, from functional programming and initial core React, to using Redux, and handling state in many different ways. Also the testing chapter was a good introduction to the area. I would have liked to know a bit more about async communication, and maybe some Observables, that's why I didn't give the 5 stars, but really recommended if you want to learn react with real code examples.
August 25, 2020
Learning React review
Excellent introduction to React. Clear, concise, plenty of examples, easy to follow. I was able to get booted up in React with this book and some hand’s on time in about four days and get productive.
Excellent introduction to React. Clear, concise, plenty of examples, easy to follow. I was able to get booted up in React with this book and some hand’s on time in about four days and get productive.
April 8, 2019
So comprehensive. An absolutely right book for those who want to start learning more advance topics in React. Very easy reading, sample exercises and projects are easy to follow and also fun to do.
July 31, 2019
A very comprehensive introduction to what's React, the how and the why plus some useful advice. If you're a newcomer you'll get a good and proper initial knowledge to start playing with the library. It covers different topics as React, Redux, running your Express server application among others.
The cons are that's very easy to get lost in the examples as you won't see what file you need to modify, how the file looks after the changes, and you'll have to reuse some files created in past chapters, which is going to make the reading take more time.
The cons are that's very easy to get lost in the examples as you won't see what file you need to modify, how the file looks after the changes, and you'll have to reuse some files created in past chapters, which is going to make the reading take more time.
February 3, 2022
Feels kind of bare bones. I feel like I've read better O'Reilly published books
June 19, 2021
Введение в целом неплохое, но разбирать взаимодействие с бэкендом начали только на 326 странице из 336, а это значительно более важная тема, чем линтеры или тесты
July 8, 2018
If you have no experience with React ecosystem, and also little experience with web dev, eg, a new grad who just start the first web project, then this book will be a great introductory guide to help you go over all the basics to build a react web app. It's also filled with example code so a good palce to begin with. However, for experienced developer, I would rather recommend you to read docs, open source code and blog posts. There's no authority in React community: people always arguing about things no matter significant or trivial, so one solution could be wrong now but correct few month after. That's why this book won't help you that much beyond basic introduction. Also React 16 is released, there are many philosophy has been changed since the book published, especially the life cycle method part.
July 5, 2021
The book gives a good overview of React starting from ES6, Functional Programming paradigm and React concepts lying under the hood, like React Elements, JSX the purpose of babel transpilling, the former need of HOC.
Do not read this edition if you’re a novice who wants to get into React and start to use the best practices straight away;
Read either documentation or a newer edition or new articles.
This book is a good stage if you have been writing in React for a while with Hooks and are curious to grasp the things and why it became what React is now (how did devs ever use component will mount? why derived from props ever existed?)
The last part of the book about handling state and flux pattern is also good, it describes Redux in-depth and offers a step-by-step guide of connecting your React app.
Do not read this edition if you’re a novice who wants to get into React and start to use the best practices straight away;
Read either documentation or a newer edition or new articles.
This book is a good stage if you have been writing in React for a while with Hooks and are curious to grasp the things and why it became what React is now (how did devs ever use component will mount? why derived from props ever existed?)
The last part of the book about handling state and flux pattern is also good, it describes Redux in-depth and offers a step-by-step guide of connecting your React app.
August 20, 2020
Good book overall, as an already experienced React developer, I read it to get up-to-date with the latest features of React, such as hooks and suspense. On the plus side, it also provides refresher chapters on ES6, functional programming and teaches React without JSX first to better understand how it's working.
The downside of this book, to me, is the lack of rigor: there are several errors and typos, so straightforward that it's hard to believe that the book has been proofread even once... Which meant I had to be on my guard the whole time I was reading it. Clearly not how a programming book is supposed to be read. Would have been 4 stars otherwise.
The downside of this book, to me, is the lack of rigor: there are several errors and typos, so straightforward that it's hard to believe that the book has been proofread even once... Which meant I had to be on my guard the whole time I was reading it. Clearly not how a programming book is supposed to be read. Would have been 4 stars otherwise.
June 20, 2021
I think I'm going to start doing a Rifftrax/MST3K for tech books.
Starts out okay. A little heavy on the "Here's how we do things in Javascript NOW (unlike last week)!" but okay. Chapter FOUR starts talking about React, but only in the abstract. By the middle of Chapter 5, I'm starting to wonder if there's ever going to be, you know, some sort of app we can actually CODE, but by the end of Chapter 5 we have it. It's recipes, which is lamé* but serviceable.
Then, Chapter Six? Back to nothing. Oh, it's a star rating component which you could use in the recipe program you built in chapter 5, as the text helpfully explains in the first two paragraphs AND NEVER MENTIONS AGAIN.
I mean, it's called "Learning React", so you obviously know exactly how you should integrate the code you spent a half-a-chapter just doing for the first time, right? Well, let's spend a third of a chapter on that and the go on to something ELSE you'll never be told how to integrate into anything, but at least you'll get a lot of historical background on how things USED to be done.
I swear, tech publishers are a conspiracy to eliminate competition for the existing programmer class.
*El Oh El, O'Reilly won't let you use the word ELL AY EM EE in a review.
Starts out okay. A little heavy on the "Here's how we do things in Javascript NOW (unlike last week)!" but okay. Chapter FOUR starts talking about React, but only in the abstract. By the middle of Chapter 5, I'm starting to wonder if there's ever going to be, you know, some sort of app we can actually CODE, but by the end of Chapter 5 we have it. It's recipes, which is lamé* but serviceable.
Then, Chapter Six? Back to nothing. Oh, it's a star rating component which you could use in the recipe program you built in chapter 5, as the text helpfully explains in the first two paragraphs AND NEVER MENTIONS AGAIN.
I mean, it's called "Learning React", so you obviously know exactly how you should integrate the code you spent a half-a-chapter just doing for the first time, right? Well, let's spend a third of a chapter on that and the go on to something ELSE you'll never be told how to integrate into anything, but at least you'll get a lot of historical background on how things USED to be done.
I swear, tech publishers are a conspiracy to eliminate competition for the existing programmer class.
*El Oh El, O'Reilly won't let you use the word ELL AY EM EE in a review.
July 15, 2020
I started reading the second edition of this book in pre-release form, on O'Reilly's site, but the final version was released a week or two ago, so I think I read the last few chapters in their final form. This is a very good intro to React, and covered most of the stuff I needed to learn.
Some of the example code in the book was a little messy, but that was probably because I was reading the pre-release version. I managed to stumble my way through it. And I assume any issues were fixed in the final release. (I haven't gone back and checked though.)
React is probably a hard subject to cover well, as there are a lot of options as to how you might choose to set up your particular project/environment. They seem to cover a lot of the more popular options. I would have liked to see more on using TypeScript with React, but that's just me.
Overall, it's a good book. I would recommend it to anyone looking to learn React, assuming you already have some JavaScript experience and don't need too much hand-holding.
Some of the example code in the book was a little messy, but that was probably because I was reading the pre-release version. I managed to stumble my way through it. And I assume any issues were fixed in the final release. (I haven't gone back and checked though.)
React is probably a hard subject to cover well, as there are a lot of options as to how you might choose to set up your particular project/environment. They seem to cover a lot of the more popular options. I would have liked to see more on using TypeScript with React, but that's just me.
Overall, it's a good book. I would recommend it to anyone looking to learn React, assuming you already have some JavaScript experience and don't need too much hand-holding.
January 12, 2021
Книженция устарела и уже появилось новое издание, плюс ко всему, мне немного не понравилась структура, про важную концепцию Redux разговор идёт только в последних 75% книги, до этого нас гоняют "вокруг да около" концепций, очень редко применяемых на практике.
- Также еще нет хуков, что делает чтение бесполезным
- Документация в некоторых моментах читается более интересно (что для книг огромный минус...)
- Я решил прочитать на русском и пожалел об этом, в коде у нас state, props и т.п. а в теории они переведены на русский (причем часто путаются местами параметры и свойства), что вызывает сильный диссонанс в голове, когда пытаешься сопоставить код с описанием.
- На github код дан в виде ссылок на редактор, т.е. чтобы потестить на своей машине, нужно будет создавать апку и встраивать этот код в неё
Советую читать второе издание (уже на английском, русский делает книгу лишь запутанней), первое, увы, устарело...
- Также еще нет хуков, что делает чтение бесполезным
- Документация в некоторых моментах читается более интересно (что для книг огромный минус...)
- Я решил прочитать на русском и пожалел об этом, в коде у нас state, props и т.п. а в теории они переведены на русский (причем часто путаются местами параметры и свойства), что вызывает сильный диссонанс в голове, когда пытаешься сопоставить код с описанием.
- На github код дан в виде ссылок на редактор, т.е. чтобы потестить на своей машине, нужно будет создавать апку и встраивать этот код в неё
Советую читать второе издание (уже на английском, русский делает книгу лишь запутанней), первое, увы, устарело...
January 13, 2023
Yes, this book is a great resource for learning how to react. Identify the best development for frond-end. The majority of business owners used react js. It is an excellent choice for web development. The benefits of React-JS allow specific changes to web application data to be made without reloading the pages. This is the main reason why it is so popular among users and developers
If you only have a few requirements, you should hire React developers to help you understand them and finish your dream project.
If you only have a few requirements, you should hire React developers to help you understand them and finish your dream project.
January 28, 2018
The best book on learning React I've come across. Short, but covers what you need to know in order to build real-world apps -- Redux, Jest, server rendering, etc. It seems to follow current best practices, which is something I was specifically looking for. I'll recommend it to people looking for a good intro to the React ecosystem.
June 27, 2022
For me, this book is quite difficult to read. The reason is its examples that are difficult to re-create and apply. The code is separate in each small section, making things difficult to write. Last but less, the author doesn't introduce a whole app but separates examples into different topics. Some important topics such as authorization are quite sallow.
November 3, 2022
Despite the beginner level the book introduces the concepts (such as declarative programming, functional programming etc.) behind React which are not covered in the other manuals. The book is worth reading in order to have the big picture. Some topics are covered really slightly, especially the last chapter.
July 27, 2017
Nice book, the approach used introducing steadily the main concepts make sense and build up along the way. I also like the fact that the book dedicates 2 chapters for testing, which is something not so common in technical books.
December 18, 2019
The book contains a very good introduction to JavaScript and more importantly - its concepts. Also explains the philosophy of React really well.
I read only the first half of the book, because I wasn't interested in Redux.
I read only the first half of the book, because I wasn't interested in Redux.
February 26, 2023
The book covers all-rounded aspects relevant to React; however, I only go through the sections I need to know. The fundamental knowledge is explained clearly; the examples are handy for grasping the concepts.
4 stars instead of 5 because some parts of the book are outdated.
4 stars instead of 5 because some parts of the book are outdated.
May 16, 2017
This is good
July 20, 2017
Just a good book to get a general overview of stuff, but nothing too detailed.
May 17, 2018
Great book to start of Reactjs Development. Make you feel WOW! React you beauty and appreciate the awesomeness of react.
May 18, 2019
Great introduction to React!
February 23, 2019
Good overview
March 6, 2019
Sometimes it was hard to read. This book is introduction to React, but sometimes very hard introduction.
May 19, 2019
Makes react make sense
As a back-end developer wanting to understand what our front-end team were working with, this book has helped me understand their work.
As a back-end developer wanting to understand what our front-end team were working with, this book has helped me understand their work.
September 22, 2019
Good book to start but few examples are used.
October 30, 2019
First programming book ever. Not bad, not good. Tries to cover lots of topics but just barely.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews