Is React the best tool for cross-platform development?

React is the best option if a client requires both web and mobile applications. These are completely different types of applications, however, they can be developed by hiring just one development team instead of two. That significantly reduces the development time and cost.

React is ideal for cross-platform development. Denis V., React developer at Belitsoft (3+ years of experience with React): 

The official React blog states that the idea behind React is “Learn Once, Write Anywhere”.

Read more: Exploring The Best React Libraries

The Main Advantages of React

One of the main advantages of React is the performance of React-based apps thanks to the virtual DOM. DOM manipulations are the core of modern interactive web pages. They are extremely resource-intensive JavaScript operations but React speeds them up using the virtual DOM. Facebook team is working on async rendering to make React-based apps even faster.

When comparing React to Angular, it’s important to remember that React is a library while the other one is a framework. It means that React as a library offers the opportunity to choose what architecture and additional libraries to use, for example, Redux or Mobx. At the same time, frameworks force you to use a certain structure in your code to make you use things the way this framework intends.

Yes, with React you need to write a large amount of the boilerplate code to follow best practices for building highly scalable and reusable apps. However, there are many professional boilerplates for React.

Benefits of React JavaScript Library

Quick Development

React allows the developers to reuse the existing code and apply hot reloading into the process. This approach not only improves the app performance but also accelerates the development speed.

Faster Testing

React extensively uses Redux which cuts down the hassle of storing and managing component states in large-sized and complex applications with enormous dynamic elements. It helps the developers add an application state in a single object and empowers every component of the app to access the application state without involving child components or using a callback. This makes it easier to test the application and log data changes, along with the use of hot reloading and other such tools.

Better User Experience

Unlike other JavaScript frameworks, React uses the Virtual DOM the abstract form of Real DOM. This makes it easier for the React app developers to update changes performed by the users in the application without affecting the other parts of the interface. This results in building a highly dynamic UI with an exquisite user experience.

Declarative Syntax

React uses a declarative syntax, allowing developers to describe how the UI should look based on the application state. This approach makes the code more predictable and easier to understand, as developers don't have to worry about manually manipulating the DOM. Instead, they can focus on building reusable UI components.

Component-Based Architecture

React promotes a component-based architecture, where the UI is broken down into small, reusable components. Each component encapsulates its own logic and state, making building and maintaining complex UIs easier. Components can be composed together to create more complex UI structures, providing reusability and modularity.

Virtual DOM

React utilizes a virtual DOM, which is a lightweight representation of the actual DOM. When the state of a React component changes, React efficiently updates only the necessary parts of the virtual DOM and then synchronizes it with the real DOM. This approach minimizes unnecessary re-rendering of components and improves overall performance.

Reusable Components

React encourages the creation of reusable UI components. These components can be composed and combined to build complex interfaces. Reusable components not only promote code reusability and consistency but also save development time and effort.

Large Ecosystem

React has a vast ecosystem with various third-party libraries, tools, and community support. This ecosystem provides solutions for various aspects of development, such as state management (Redux, MobX), routing (React Router), form handling (Formik), and UI styling (Styled Components, Material-UI). The availability of these resources makes development faster and more efficient.

Strong Community Support

React has a large and active community of developers who contribute to its growth. The community provides valuable resources, tutorials, best practices, and support forums. This strong community support ensures that developers can easily find help, stay updated with the latest trends, and benefit from the collective knowledge and experience of the community.

Read more: The Advantages of Using Java